Expert Details

Airborne Remote Sensing, specifically Hyperspectral Imaging and Digital Aerial Photography

ID: 729341 Canada

He is a remote sensing specialist and senior manager who has focused most of his career on airborne hyperspectral surveys, digital aerial photography and thermal surveys. Formally trained in geography and remote sensing, he has been active in the remote sensing/geomatics field for almost thirty years. He has considerable management experience in all aspects of corporate operations and has a strong background in financial management, business development and marketing, project management and staff management. Expert has worked with all levels of government, academic institutions, private foundations and the private sector. He has extensive international project experience gained from work in twenty eight countries. He has had the opportunity to work on numerous projects at a regional, national and international level. Many of the projects Expert has worked on have a strong coastal and/or environmental focus, such as mapping a portion of the Peruvian rainforest for an environmental impact assessment, mapping coastal areas of St Lucia to determine the impact level of human activities, studying the effects of El Nino on coral reefs in French Polynesia, mapping coral structures in the Red Sea, Indian Ocean, Caribbean and the Pacific Ocean, identifying invasive marine vegetation in the Mediterranean, identifying invasive marine vegetation in Canadian waters and mapping near-shore coastal features in Nova Scotia. Expert has been an invited lecturer on remote sensing at local, national and international educational institutes and has published numerous technical papers at international scientific conference.

He has operational experience using standard aerial cameras, digital aerial cameras, thermal scanners, hyperspectral sensors and airborne radars. He also has expertise in analyzing data from these sensors as well as from other remote sensing sensors and has GIS mapping experience as well.

He routinely consults with his clients to help them establish proper data collection parameters for their projects. A good example of this is his ongoing work with the Saint John River Water Management District in Florida. He initially helped them establish a pilot project through which they coulkd evaluate hyperspectral technology and has helped them refine their approach over several subsequent annual contracts.He works closely with acadamic researchers and foundations who are involved in studying airborne hyperspectral technology. He assists them in establishing focused research projects dealing with technical problems in the technology.

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Education

Year	Degree	Subject	Institution
Year: 1981	Degree: Associates Degree	Subject: Remote Sensing, Geomatics	Institution: College of Geographic Sciences

Work History

Years	Employer	Title	Department
Years: 2006 to Present	Employer: Undisclosed	Title: President	Department:
Responsibilities: President (co-owner) of Employer (HIL), a geomatics firm that specializes in the acquisition of high resolution digital airborne data through the use of a variety of sensors, but specifically with the Compact Airborne Spectrographic Imager or casi. Primarily focusing its expertise in the area of coastal zone management and specific terrestrial applications, HIL conducts project work globally. Through the use of the casi HIL provides timely and cost effective data that is mostly non-existent from other sources. HIL provides project planning, implementation and management services as well as conducting marketing studies, organizing and conducting technical seminars in the general area of geomatics. As President he is responsible for overall company management and specifically technical management and business development
Years	Employer	Title	Department
Years: 1997 to 2006	Employer: Hyperspectral Data International Inc	Title: President	Department:
Responsibilities: President (and co-owner) of Hyperspectral Data International Inc (HDI), a geomatics firm that specialized in the acquisition of high resolution digital airborne data through the use of a variety of sensors, but specifically with the Compact Airborne Spectrographic Imager or casi. HDI focused its expertise in the area of coastal zone management and specific terrestrial applications and through the use of the casi provides timely and cost effective data that is mostly non-existent from other sources. In addition, HDI provided project planning, implementation and management services as well as conducting marketing studies, organizing and conducting technical seminars in the general area of geomatics. With HDI he was responsible for the operational side of the firm which included business development and marketing and data collection and data analysis activities.
Years	Employer	Title	Department
Years: 1993 to 1997	Employer: AGI Ariel Geomatics Inc	Title: President	Department:
Responsibilities: President and partner in a geomatics firm that specialized in the acquisition of high resolution digital airborne data through the use of a variety of sensors, but specifically with the Compact Airborne Spectrographic Imager or casi. AGI focussed its expertise in the area of coastal zone management and through the use of the casi provided timely and cost effective data that was mostly non-existent from other sources. AGI provided project planning, implementation and management services as well as providing marketing studies, organizing and conducting technical seminars in the general area of geomatics. He was in charge of Operations and in that role was responsible for all flight planning and completion. During the period of operation AGI conducted projects in Canada, United Kingdom, Italy, Norway, Finland, United States, Chile, and Russia and in the Caribbean nations of Antigua, Turks & Caicos and Barbados.
Years	Employer	Title	Department
Years: 1989 to 1992	Employer: Geomatic Technologies Inc	Title: Vice President	Department:
Responsibilities: GTI was an aerial photography and airborne data collection and analysis firm, operating several aircraft and a variety of aerial cameras and digital sensors. GTI operated an aerial film processing laboratory equipped to develop and reproduce all aerial films. The firm also provided digital data analysis services. As Vice-President he had full responsibility for the entire company operation, including supervision of all day to day operations, financial planning, budget preparation, financial management, sales and marketing and technical guidance. The main business area of the firm was aerial photography and numerous projects were conducted in all of eastern Canada and internationally including the Caribbean. Typical projects ranged from 1:2000 scale through 1:50,000 scale photo. He was responsible for flight planning and preparation of all photo projects. He was also responsible for the development of remote sensing services and dealt closely with potential clients, advising on technical requirements for their projects. He acquired considerable experience dealing with various levels of government in order to access funding for marketing, business development and for project work. In addition, he also provided sales and marketing assistance to GTI's parent firm, Provincial Airlines Limited.
Years	Employer	Title	Department
Years: 1985 to 1989	Employer: Aerial Mapping and Photography Limited	Title: Managing Director	Department:
Responsibilities: AMAP was an aerial survey firm located in Newfoundland, and operated two aircraft and aerial cameras for aerial photo projects. The firm was also involved in flying developmental sensors. As Managing Director he was responsible for financial planning, budget preparation, financial management, sales and marketing, project management and technical guidance. Aerial photo projects were undertaken throughout Newfoundland. He also was a participant in numerous technical projects. This firm was re-organized to form Geomatic Technologies Inc.
Years	Employer	Title	Department
Years: 1985 to 1989	Employer: Provincal Airlines Limited	Title: Manager-Special Missions	Department:
Responsibilities: In addition to the position with Aerial Mapping, this position was held concurrently with the parent firm. His main responsibility was to obtain and implement a contract to provide airborne radar ice surveillance services to the East Coast Petroleum operators. He was responsible for the selection of the radar system, modification and installation of all equipment on the aircraft, staff selection and implementation of the service. His subsequent role included supervising national and international marketing. He was also a technical advisor on matters relating to aerial photography and remote sensing as it pertained to offshore projects.
Years	Employer	Title	Department
Years: 1983 to 1985	Employer: Atlantic Canada Airborne Sensing Ltd	Title: Operations Manager	Department:
Responsibilities: Responsible for the overall operations of an aerial survey firm. Duties included financial planning, financial management, sales and marketing, project supervision and technical guidance. The firm carried out a variety of aerial photo projects and he was responsible for flight planning and also acted as an aerial camera operator. Also responsible for remote sensing activities and was extensively involved in marine oil spill experiments

Government Experience

Years	Agency	Role	Description
Years: 2003 to 2010	Agency: Saint John River Water Management District	Role: Contractor	Description: He has provided annual airborne hyperspectral data collection services to this agency. The data acquired has been used to map submerged aquatic vegetation in the Saint John River (Florida)
Years: 2000 to 2001	Agency: USEPA	Role: Contractor	Description: Carried out aerial hyperspectral surveys of selected river sections in Ohio

International Experience

Years	Country / Region	Summary
Years: 2003 to 2005	Country / Region: Indonesia	Summary: He has worked on two major coral reef research projects that were conducted in Indonesian waters
Years: 1997 to 2001	Country / Region: France, Monaco	Summary: Over a 4 year period he worked closely with the Museum of Oceanography (Monaco) in using hyperspectral technology to map submerged aquatic vegetation in coastal waters of the Mediterranean.
Years: 2003 to 2006	Country / Region: Belize	Summary: Over a three year period he worked with Belize based consulting companies to utilize hyperspectral imagery for coral reef mapping and to use digital aerial photography for coastal resource mapping purposes.
Years: 2001 to 2001	Country / Region: Seychelles	Summary: Carried out the largest aerial mapping project of Seychelles coral reefs. Using airborne hyperspectral imagery conducted surveys over many of the islands making up the Seychelles chain.
Years: 1997 to 1998	Country / Region: Peru	Summary: Over a 4 month period undertook an aerial hyperspectral data collection project in a remote portion of the Peruvian rain forest. The data collected was subsequently used to prepare an enviromental sensitivity map that was in turn used in an environmental impact report prepared on a proposed natural gas pipeline

Career Accomplishments

Associations / Societies
Marine Technology Society (MTS); Remote Sensing and Photogrammetry Society (RSPSoc); Geomatics Association of Nova Scotia (GANS).

Professional Appointments
Chair of the Marine Technology Society Remote Sensing Committee

Awards / Recognition
named a Fellow of the Remote Sensing and Photogrammetry Society (RSPSoc) (U.K.); named a Fellow of the Marine Technology Society (U.S.A.).

Publications and Patents Summary
Has in excess of 45 publications (main author and co-author).

Additional Experience

Expert Witness Experience
He was an Expert Witness (for the defense) in a trial where his aerial photographic expertise was employed to provide evidence on what could or couldn't be seen on various scales of aerial photography.

Training / Seminars
He has been a regular tutorial speaker at the annual OCEANS MTS/IEEE conferences having conducted tutorials at OCEANS'09, OCEANS'08, OCEANS'07 AND OCEANS'06. He gives an annual guest lecture at the College of Geographic Sciences on airborne hyperspectral imaging. He has been an invited guest speaker at technical workshops conducted by the United Nationas Environmental Program held in the Phillipines and in Barbados. He was also an invited speaker at technical workshops held in Indonesia and Belgium.

Training / Seminars

He has been a regular tutorial speaker at the annual OCEANS MTS/IEEE conferences having conducted tutorials at OCEANS'09, OCEANS'08, OCEANS'07 AND OCEANS'06. He gives an annual guest lecture at the College of Geographic Sciences on airborne hyperspectral imaging. He has been an invited guest speaker at technical workshops conducted by the United Nationas Environmental Program held in the Phillipines and in Barbados. He was also an invited speaker at technical workshops held in Indonesia and Belgium.

Marketing Experience
He has been recognized for his contribution to and his knowledge of airborne remote sensing and its use for coastal and marine projects by neing named a Fellow of the Remote Sensing Society (U.K.) and by the Marine Technology Society (U.S.A.)

Other Relevant Experience
He is an accomplished public speaker.

Language Skills

Language	Proficiency
English	Native Language
French	He is able to read basic French and comprehend

Fields of Expertise

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Expert Details

Airborne Remote Sensing, specifically Hyperspectral Imaging and Digital Aerial Photography

Education

Work History

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Government Experience

International Experience

Career Accomplishments

Additional Experience

Language Skills

Fields of Expertise