LizardTech was invited to participate a week or so ago in the Wyoming Geographic Information Science Center’s speaker forum series. The Wyoming Geographic Information Science Center (WyGISC for short) is an interdisciplinary research institute at the University of Wyoming focused on development of geospatial information and technologies and their applications in science, education, government and business. Every Friday they host a guest speaker to come in and discuss technology, business roles in the industry, and career advice.

So bright and early on a beautiful day in September Jeff Young, our business developer, and I drove like “Mario Andretti through Cooter country” from Ft. Collins, Colorado to Laramie, Wyoming to present MrSID technology to graduate students and faculty at UW. Being a student once myself I knew what a big draw free food can be so we ordered in some pizzas for the event. And it’s a good thing because due to road construction enroute we were a wee bit late.

But despite our tardiness the event was a great success. Most of the audience had worked with MrSID files and were eager to learn about the advancements we’d made with the technology in the direction of multi- and hyperspectral support for raster MrSIDs and now MrSID compression for LiDAR data. There was also a big interest in Express Server for delivering MrSID and JPEG 2000 compressed imagery. Jeff and I made a great team. I was able to provide details on the raster aspect of MrSID compression and delivery while he provided elaborate details about MrSID LiDAR compression.

After the presentation, which was very interactive, we were able to talk one on one with some great people. One of the WyGISC researchers came up to introduce himself and let me know that he had pushed his old employer to use MrSID imagery and buy our software in South Dakota. We were invited to come back and participate in WyGEO (http://wygeo.org/) and Pennsylvanian Jeff was even able to pick out a native of his home state by her “accent”.

Our visit also answered a burning question that had come up on the ride up to Laramie. We had passed a herd of what looked to me — after taking my eyes off the road for a nano-second and seeing only a bunch of white, fluffy rear-ends — like antelope. But Jeff disagreed with my analysis and said those butts were too big for antelope and probably belonged to big horn sheep. One of the UW faculty confirmed that it was most likely big horn sheep that we had seen since this was the time of year that they usually migrated through the area.

Take a look at the pictures below and see for yourself – an easy mistake to make, no? Although, I’m sure an antelope wouldn’t appreciate its backside being compared to a big horn sheep’s.

Big horn sheep butts.

Antelope butts. Image by Mary Gordon, used by permission.