The contract requires GIS analysis and reporting, data development, application development, and remote sensing to support the SFWMD in managing the water supply, water quality, ecosystems, and flood control for more than 6 million residents in 16 counties across south Florida. 

 “The district not only manages water resources to serve the residents in our jurisdiction; we are protecting and restoring an ecosystem that is a unique part of our national heritage,” explained Jim Cameron, director of the district’s GIS and Web Development Division.  “To serve the magnitude of our mission, we awarded contracts to forty-five prime vendors in nine disciplines; EarthData is one of five vendors who offer end-to-end services in GIS and remote sensing.”

To help SFWMD meet both programmatic and rapid-response requirements, the EarthData team will acquire and process specialized remotely sensed data, such as hyperspectral, thermal, radar, and spaceborne imagery, as well as provide GIS software, applications, and decision-support tools to manage, analyze, and distribute all types of geospatial data. “We look forward to continuing our relationship with the SFWMD,” said Martin Roche, president and general manager of EarthData’s Solutions Division.  “Having worked with the SFWMD and four other Florida water management districts in 2004 to provide digital orthophotography covering the entire state, we understand SFWMD objectives as well as many of the district’s challenges.”

The EarthData team includes EarthData, The Alta Vista Company, ITRES Research Limited, Digital Globe, Digital Aerial Solutions, I.S. Consulting, TerraSurv, and L.D. Bradley.  “Our team looks forward to supporting SFWMD using the full range of our combined capabilities,” stated Roche.

The SFWMD contract expands EarthData’s portfolio of contracts for GIS consulting services in the region and contributes to the organization’s strategic goals in the GIS marketplace.

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About EarthData:  EarthData is an airborne data collection, mapping, and GIS services organization that delivers customized products, services, and GIS applications to support a wide range of land-use, resource management, and engineering activities worldwide.  With its fleet of aircraft, the organization collects aerial photography, uses an airborne laser system (lidar) and imaging radar (GeoSAR) to produce 3D terrain models, and develops or deploys other remote sensing technologies to detect thermal and multispectral information about the earth’s surface.  EarthData offices in Florida, Maryland, New York, North Carolina, and Washington, DC, use these data to produce photogrammetric, lidar, radar, and digital orthophoto mapping and GIS applications and services.  EarthData also owns the mid-west mapping and GIS company, Horizons, Inc., with offices in South Dakota and Minnesota.  (www.earthdata.com)