UP Geodetic Engineering Freshies take a DREAM tour

Organized by the Student Affairs Committee of the UP Department of Geodetic Engineering (GE), more than twenty (20) GE Freshmen went on a Company Visit and Office Tour of DREAM in the National Engineering Center, University of the Philippines, Diliman, last June 27, 2014.

The GE Mid-Year activity was due to the change in the academic calendar implemented in the UP System, and is considered part of the second batch of summer classes held in UP Diliman. The participants included 2-3 representatives from each of the GE student organizations.

The GE freshies had the opportunity to be exposed to DREAM operations and work processes to learn more about the LiDAR technology currently being applied to flood modeling and mapping in the Philippines. Data Processing Chief Science Research Specialist Engr. Sarah Jane D. Samalburo gave them an orientation of how the Data Processing Component worked with all the other DREAM components to produce the DREAM products: Orthoimages, Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) and Digital Terrain Models (DTMs). This was followed by a session with the Flood Modeling Component, who used the DEMs to generate highly-accurate flood hazard maps. to give the students an overview of the flood modeling process and how they generate the highly-accurate 3D flood hazard maps. The freshies were also given the chance to ask members of the Data Processing Component some questions on the DREAM Program.

To complete the Company Visit, the students also had a learning session with the Data Validation Component (DVC) led by Engr. Kristine Ailene Borromeo, Engr. JMson Calalang, and Engr. Mark Lester Rojas. The freshies were oriented on the Trimble equipment used by the Data Validation team for its validation activities. Meanwhile, Ms. Girlie David and Ms. Abigael Gonzales answered questions regarding DREAM’s Flood Modeling Component (FMC) activities.

With the DREAM tour, the students are also expected to see possible career prospects relevant to their discipline, especially with the potential applications of DREAM LiDAR Data in various industries.