470
July 2017
PHOTOGRAMMETRIC ENGINEERING & REMOTE SENSING
BOOK
REVIEW
with textbooks from major publishers that provide a wealth of
instructional materials will need to devote considerable effort
to classroom lecture and activities.
For the most part, the information appears accurate, al-
though some additional detail about some of the challenges
in the design and application of UAS would be useful to help
highlight potential pitfall to those new to the field. For exam-
ple, major challenges to UAS remote sensing such as bidirec-
tional reflectance function or avoiding common mistakes that
abound in the UAS remote sensing industry such as using ra-
diometrically uncorrected data to calculate vegetation indices
and model biophysical parameters are not addressed or men-
tioned, but are important to ensuring quality data products
As with any book that covers a technology that is rapidly
evolving and advancing, some of the details already seem out
of date. Recent developments such as the new FAA rules did
not make it into the book as it went to press, which the au-
thors note in the epilogue. Other areas that are lacking in the
book are details of the technical aspects of applied UAS such
as sprayers for agriculture or advancements in computer vi-
for assessment items is being conducted, and a CMS-UAS
Professional andUAS Technologist certification programs will be
submitted to the ASPRS Board for approval and implementation
in June 2017.
Recertification
To remain actively certified, currently certified practitioners
at the professional level must be recertified every five years;
at the technologist level, every three years. The recertification
process requires an application, fee, and four personal refer-
ences. If recertification does not occur within the required time
frame, the individual becomes “in-active.” If the in-active sta-
tus exceeds I year, an individual may become active by apply-
ing for and passing the exam in their field.
Accreditation
On January 1, 2013, the ASPRS professional and technolo-
gist certification programs each received accreditation from
the Council of Engineering and Scientific Specialty Boards
(CESB). CESB voted to approve accreditation for the profes-
sional Certified Photogrammetrist (CP), Certified Mapping
Scientist-Remote Sensing (CMS/RS) and Certified Mapping
Scientist-GIS/LIS (CMS/GISLIS) programs, along with three
related technologist certification categories – Photogrammet-
ric Technologist, Remote Sensing Technologist and GIS/LIS
sion that now allow consumer-grade UAS to track objects. One
curious note is the use of the term “UAS” to refer to unmanned
aircraft systems, rather than unmanned aerial systems as de-
fined by the FAA and commonly used across the industry. This
adds yet another term to the plethora of terms that refer to
unmanned aerial systems including drones, radio-controlled
(RC) aircraft, remote piloted vehicles, semi-autonomous air-
craft, and unmanned aerial vehicles, among others.
Despite some detractors, the book is a good text on all as-
pects of UAS from design to application to regulation and pol-
icy. While the text is geared towards technical or engineering
students, the book provides useful information for any student
or even professionals interested in UAS, even if all the techni-
cal details are not necessarily of required for operations. While
many researchers and professionals seek turn-key UAS solu-
tions for UAS remote sensing, the background provided by this
book will help any UAS user understand and appreciate the
design and development of these systems.
Technologist. During the review process leading to accredita-
tion, CESB required ASPRS to make several minor changes
to the Program, including: shifting the continuing education
requirement from the previous proprietary points-based sys-
tem to Professional Development Hours (PDH); increasing the
PDH requirement from 75 hours to 100 hours for the profes-
sional recertification and from 50 hours to 60 hours for the
technologist recertification.
C
onclusion
The ASPRS certification program as approved is entirely vol-
untary. It applies equally to persons associated with the sever-
al subdivisions of photogrammetry and the mapping sciences,
which by Society definition includes aerial photography, pho-
togrammetric photographic interpretation, geographic infor-
mation systems, remote sensing systems, and land information
systems. However, in accordance with the Society’s Code of
Ethics persons certified should decline to undertake any work
within, or related to the fields of photogrammetry and mapping
sciences that is outside their range of competence.
SECTOR
INSIGHT:
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