Reston, VA, July 20, 2009 - MAPPS ( http://www.mapps.org), the association of private geospatial firms, has announced that it will host its third annual Geospatial Products and Services Excellence Awards competition, recognizing the professionalism, value, integrity and achievement that member firms have demonstrated in their projects and technology developments over the previous year.

"The Awards Program is an opportunity for MAPPS member firms to showcase the high-quality work that is being preformed in the geospatial community," said John Palatiello, MAPPS Executive Director. "The awards program demonstrates the cutting edge technology and professional expertise that MAPPS member firms implement in projects serving their clients."

The award recipients will be announced and recognized on Wednesday, November 18 during the MAPPS/ASPRS Joint Specialty Conference in San Antonio, Texas.

The Geospatial Products and Services Excellence Awards program has six categories: airborne and satellite data acquisition; photogrammetry/elevation data generation; remote sensing; GIS/IT; small projects; and technology innovation. A Grand Award will be selected from the six category winners to represent the MAPPS Project of the Year.

In 2008, the MAPPS Project of the Year was awarded to Fugro EarthData (Frederick, Maryland) for the "Mapping a Vital Marine Resource in Texas" project. The project, conducted for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Coastal Services Center (CSC), created benthic habitat maps to support the Texas Seagrass Monitoring Program. It helped protect the shallow marine environment in the 1,400 square miles of estuaries along the Texas Gulf Coast. The mapping project involved three elements: high-resolution aerial mapping, object-oriented classification and quantitative accuracy assessment.

The 2008 category winners were Intermap Technologies for "Ultra Long Lines: Increasing Airborne Data Acquisition Rates" in the category of Airborne and Satellite Data Acquisition; Aero-Metric, Inc. for "Interstate 35W Bridge Collapse" in Photogrammetry/Elevation Data Generation; and Photo Science for "Legislative Atlas" in the GIS/IT category. The Fugro EarthData project was the category winner among Remote Sensing project entries.

The 2009 contest is open to all MAPPS Member and Associate Member firms. The deadline for submitting entries is August 7, 2009.

To learn more information about MAPPS and the Geospatial Products and Services Excellence Awards program visit http://www.mapps.org/awards/gpseawards.cfm.

About MAPPS

Formed in 1982, MAPPS is the only national association exclusively comprised of private firms in the remote sensing, spatial data and geographic information systems field in the United States. Current MAPPS memberships span the entire spectrum of the geospatial community, including Member Firms engaged in satellite and airborne remote sensing, surveying, photogrammetry, aerial photography, LIDAR, hydrography, bathymetry, charting, aerial and satellite image processing, GPS, and GIS data collection and conversion services. MAPPS also includes Associate Member Firms, which are companies that provide hardware, software, products and services to the geospatial profession in the United States and other firms from around the world. MAPPS provides its 150+ member firms opportunities for networking and developing business-to-business relationships, information sharing, education, public policy advocacy, market growth, and professional development and image enhancement.

For more information on MAPPS, please visit www.MAPPS.org.