PE&RS July 2017 Public - page 468

468 July 2017 PHOTOGRAMMETRIC ENGINEERING & REMOTE SENSING
SECTORINSIGHT:.org
es. On October 28, 1997, the ASPRS Board of Directors
approved a modification to the Certification Program by
requiring applicants to pass a written examination. This
requirement took effect on January 1, 1998. To develop
examinations, the Certification Committee established
an Exam Development Working Group composed of
private, public, and academic practitioners. In the mid-
1990s, the examination fulfilled practices in keeping
with similar science and engineering certification pro-
grams conducted by like organizations (such as NSPS,
NCEES, and ASCE). Developing the three examinations
took three years, and became active in January 1999.
Student Interns / Provisional Certifications
In May 2006, the ASPRS Board of Directors approved
the Provisional Certification Program which was recom-
mended by the Evaluation for Certification Committee
(ECC). Students preparing to graduate within one year
in spatial science programs may apply for Certification
and become “provisionally certified” until they complete
the on-job experience requirement. Provisionally certi-
fied individuals have a specified period of time to achieve
the on-job experience at which time, they will become ful-
ly certified. The ECC has re-designated provisional certi-
fication as the very successful student-driven Geospatial
Intern Program.
Development of the Lidar Certification Programs
In response to the Lidar practitioner community, the
Certification Committee developed a certification for
Certified Mapping Scientist-Lidar and Lidar Technol-
ogist. Both programs began in January 2015. In keep-
ing with the current NCEES accepted methodology, the
Committee now follows the DACUM (Development of
a Curriculum) process. The initial step is to develop a
Body of Knowledge (BoK), which is five or six short state-
ments describing the general knowledge required for the
specialty area. To support each BoK item, specific tasks
are identified that describe performance (usually five to
seven tasks). With an acceptable BoK and Tasks, the de-
velopment of assessment items (i.e., exam questions) are
created. The final step in the exam development process
is to conduct a “cut-score” for the new assessment items
which is to have a small group of lidar practitioners (pro-
fessional and technologist) take the test, and then pro-
cess the results using the NCEES model. The final exams
for lidar certification also have content addressing basic
photogrammetry, remote sensing, and GIS concepts.
Development of the UAS Certification Programs
Since October 2015, the Committee has been developing
a UAS Certification which is supported by the new
ASPRS Unmanned Autonomous Systems (UAS) Technical
Division. Following the DACUM process, the cut-score
Information on how to apply for certification 1, require-
ments2, educational credits3, and administrative review pro-
cedures4are outlined below.
How to Apply
Persons interested in applying for certification or recertifica-
tion, should follow the 7-step general procedure found on the
ASPRS Website 5. Applicants for professional certification
must successfully complete two criteria to become certified:
• Pass a Peer-Review of experience and training and
provide four personal references, and
• Pass the Written Examination for the Specialty Area
Certification.
Workshops designed to help prepare applicants for
Certification are also available. The workshop agenda begins
by explaining the purpose and format of the certification
exam (see the ASPRS website).
Workshop Topics
• Purpose of the exam
• Photogrammetry
• Remote Sensing
• Geographic Information Systems
• Lidar
• Unmanned Autonomous Systems
ASPRS Evaluation for Certification Committee &
Review Committees
Chair Michael Renslow
Board Liaison Current President—Rebecca A. Morton
Staff Contact Jesse Winch
Sub-Committee Chairs Review Committee
Photogrammetry Alan Mikuni Michael Zoltek,
Frank Taylor
Remote Sensing Raquel Charrois Paul Ogino,
and GIS/LIS Thomas Jordan,
Lindi Quackenbush
Lidar Karl Heidemann Sanchit Agarwal,
Alvin Karlin
Questions?
Contact certification@asprs.org
1https://www.asprs.org/certification-program/certification-and-
recertification-guidelines.html#HOW_TO_APPLY
2https://www.asprs.org/certification-program/certification-and-
recertification-guidelines.html#Requirements
3https://www.asprs.org/certification-program/certification-and-
recertification-guidelines.html#EDUCATIONAL_CREDITS
4https://www.asprs.org/certification-program/certification-
and-recertification-guidelines.html#ADMINISTRATIVE_
PROCEDURES
5www.aspr.org
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