The Application of Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Systems (gis) to Fossil Resource Management

Change is one of the many challenges facing fossil resource managers today. This concept is not restricted to physical alterations affecting the resource such as erosion, visitation, vandalism or even preservation. Changes in the views of the public, policies of an administration and in the field of geospatial technology are also greatly affecting how a particular resource program or significant locality is managed. Geospatial technologies are changing and evolving at an incredible rate, resulting in not only an increase in capability, but also of complexity and expectations for the resulting product. Today, it is not uncommon to integrate a number of geospatial tools, some of which require a sophisticated knowledge of computer systems, data requirements and techniques. This is not necessarily a negative, as it sets the foundational need for partnerships with other resource specialists, academic researchers and the public across disciplines, across administrative boundaries and across agencies. Within the cadre of geospatial technologies, there are a number of tools that can greatly streamline and support land management decisions and the implementation of these decisions. These tools include utilizing imagery data sets through photogrammetry (the art and science of making measurements from photographs) and analyzing remotely sensed data. Data sets may be collected through active sensors, such as RADAR or LIDAR, or passive sensors, which collect multior hyperspectral imagery. The processing of these data sets can result in detailed data files representing the terrain or geological and soil maps, to name only a few. Data sets can be combined with both coordinate and attribute data collected in the field and processed geospatially using Geographic Information Systems, a combination of computer hardware, software and data that allows information to be organized around a specific location. At paleontological localities such as the Red Gulch Dinosaur Tracksite, Twentymile Wash Dinosaur Tracksite and Picketwire Canyonlands Dinosaur Tracksite innovative geospatial technologies were tested, refined and integrated. This integrated approach not only resulted in documentation of the paleontological resource, but also supplied products used in site development, resource protection and interpretation.