Remote sensing

Welcome to Spatial Signals.

It's a podcast about remote sensing and geographic information systems, but more importantly, the people behind them.

I'm your co-host, Dr. Brad Chelito, and with me today is your other co-host, coming to us from his pirate radio station where he is ghost hunting at Benson Grist Mill in Tooele County, Mr. Chris McGinty.

Chris, how is the great state of spooky Utah treating you today?

Thanks so much, Brad and Chris.

I'm so excited to be here and just have this conversation with you.

I love talking about GIS and remote sensing.

Sounds good.

I'm your host, Tim Reeves.

On this episode, we are joined by Adam Lewenter, a research physical scientist with ERDC's Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory, or CREL, to discuss why this monitoring is so critical and plans to deploy an automatic remote sensing technology to keep a constant watch over the basin.

Adam, welcome.

Thanks, Tim.

That's going to remain in the basin.

So as the amount of ice that's suspended or buoyant in the lake starts to decrease because it's melting, the holding capacity or the amount of water that is available for those flood events increases, even if the constraints of the basin are changing,

right? So you are part, you're part of the team at what's called the Remote Sensing and GIS Center of Expertise based at Corral.

What is the role of this center and what unique capabilities does the team bring to a monitoring challenge such as this one?

Computer vision is reshaping the way we understand the environment around us.

Konrad Schindler, professor of photogrammetry and remote sensing at the Department of Civil, Environmental, and Geomatic Engineering at ETH Zurich joins Ana Bendi-Clarujo and Deepika Raghu at the Chair of Circular Engineering for Architecture to discuss how remote sensing and photogrammetry are transforming the way we map, analyze, and interpret the world around us.

From the blurred boundaries between photogrammetry and computer vision to the realities of working with imperfect data, he reflects on both the possibilities and limitations of data-driven approaches.

He also differentiates between research and practical applications and addresses the challenges of putting the growing amount of digital image data to good use.

My name's Konrad Schindler.

I'm a professor at the Department of Civil, Environmental, and Geomatic Engineering.

I specialize in remote sensing and photogrammetry, so I am in some sense the resident computer vision expert for the civil and environmental engineers.

You have been a professor since 2010 at the Chair of Remote Sensing and Photogrammetry, but your background is pure computer science and geospatial engineering, right?

[rock music] Welcome to Spatial Signals.

It's a podcast about remote sensing and geographic information systems, but more importantly, the people behind them.

I'm your co-host, Dr. Brad Shellito, and with me today is your other co-host, coming to us from his pirate radio station where he's looking for tropical fish at the former location of the Bonneville Seabase in Grantsville, Mr. Chris McGinty.

Chris, how is Utah treating you on this fall day?

And it's a really neat, you know, example of how, you know, we're all- always still finding features on the surface of the Earth using this remotely sensed data, you know, uh, to, you know, reveal hidden geology and, and guide, you know, on-the-ground science and, and just all these really cool examples.

So we'll, uh, we'll provide the links, Brad.

And, uh, just a kind of a, a neat story and, you know, it's even one that you can take into the classroom and kind of show students, you know, this is, this is the power of remote sensing.

So there you go.

Nature is perfectly capable of drawing straight lines and sharp boundaries when rivers, waves, and changing sea levels go to work over thousands of years.

All of these techniques fall under the umbrella of marine remote sensing.

Remote is the key word.

Nobody is walking around down there laying out tape measures.

You're inferring shapes and patterns at a distance from sound waves and processing algorithms.

It's an incredibly powerful way to scan huge areas quickly, but it's not the same as diving down and seeing a cut stone block with tool marks in it, which is why in serious marine archeology, remote sensing is the starting point, not the finish line.

You use sonar, bathymetry, and seismic tools to find anomalies, places where the sea floor looks weird, different, interesting.

Maybe something that looks too straight, too regular, too grid-like to ignore.