Abstract
ASCE Special Topics in Civil Engineering Geomatics
Track: GIS Software and Workflow
Authors: Michael Olsen
The American Society of Engineers (ASCE) Spatial Data Applications Committee will host a special session focused on critical issues in Civil Engineering Spatial Data. The first half will focus on the state of the art in transportation information modeling. Presentations will be followed by a forum discussion with a panel of experts regarding what resources are available, what benefits can be obtained, what hurdles are present, what is needed, and what is on the horizon for 3D transportation information modeling. The second half will be an open forum discussion of the role of professional licensing with respect to the use of new technologies such as LIDAR. These new technologies enable spatial data to be acquired rapidly and used by a variety of people for several purposes. However, given the limited number of people with expertise in both hardware and software and the rapid rate of change in the industry, potential problems can easily arise when under-qualified people perform work and deliver results or someone assumes a higher level of accuracy from a dataset that was intended for another purpose requiring lower accuracy. When is certification by a licensed professional necessary? Whose job is it to certify this data? How does this fit within the duties of a licensed surveyor, engineer, or certified photogrammetrist? How do they certify it when the applications vary substantially? What needs to happen in the industry to train people with these new technologies? How do licensing procedures adapt to verify people are properly trained?