The following article represents a written version of some insights George Rosenfield provided the Florida Region of ASPRS Annual Meeting on August 23rd, 2013:

On February 6, 2012, an open house was held at the Brevard County Government Complex, presented by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) assisted by personnel of the Brevard County Public Works Office. The purpose was to present the new Digital Flood Insurance Rate Maps to the local public and explain their use in determining the individual need for flood insurance. The new maps were created with modern aerial mapping methods, using computer modeling and laser measurements. I also have a historical knowledge of the origin, development and use of these FEMA flood maps, and I wanted to know how they had been improved.

The original FEMA flood maps were produced by contract to the U. S. Army Map Service in the 1950’s. The requirement was to produce the final product within a short time frame for the entire country.

To meet this requirement, the already existing National Series of 1/250,000 scale, Strategic Planning Maps, were used. This horizontal scale is 4 miles to the inch. The vertical contour interval is usually 100 meters. The horizontal accuracy standard for this scale is 195 feet. The vertical standard is ½ of the contour interval (CI).
In the early 1970’s, at the U. S. Geological Survey (USGS), I had occasion to test the horizontal accuracy of these maps. On average, they only met an accuracy of double the standard, or approximately 400 feet. In Florida, there are almost no contours. These maps have symbols for the areas of wetland, marshes, swamps, forests, farmland, metropolitan areas, etc.

The requirement was to delineate the boundaries of the 100-year flood on each of these base maps, to separate the flood prone areas from the upland areas. A reasonable boundary was estimated between the symbol areas of wetlands and the dryer uplands. This estimated boundary was delineated with an 1/8 inch wide magic marker pen, ½ mile at map scale. The FEMA published flood maps are only enlargements of these AMS prepared maps. Thus was determined a person’s need for flood insurance. On or inside the Zone A boundary, flood insurance was required. Outside, in the Zone X, it was not. In the late 1990’s, FEMA stated that new flood maps were now available, This was not necessarily correct. The new maps were only a reissue of the old maps, In some cases, map revision was added to the base maps, but no changes were made to the flood area boundaries.

The FEMA representative, explained to me that the new 2012 year digital maps were now based on the USGS standard 1/24,000 scale quadrangle maps. This scale is 2000 feet to the inch, with minimum 10 foot contour interval, and in some cases interpolated to 5 feet. The horizontal accuracy for this scale is 18.6 feet. The vertical standard is still ½ of CI. These base maps have been available in digital format for a number of years. The elevation information for these digital maps far exceeds the accuracy requirement of ½ CI. However, there has been no science involved in trying to determine the flood elevation of the 100-year flood for any of the local areas. So the old boundaries made with the 1/8 inch magic marker of interpolated location of a guesswork flood location are still in use. The FEMA person stated that the flood areas delineated on the old maps were superimposed upon the new digital map information. So the horizontal location of the boundary is still limited by the 400 foot accuracy of the old maps.

It is possible to buy your way out of the flood insurance requirement, on the “Basis of Fill”. In March 1998, personnel at Brevard County Public Works Office helped me with the requirements for a FEMA Letter of Map Revision (LOMR) removing my house from the Special Flood Hazard Areas (SFHA) and placing it in Flood Zone X, “due to fill”. This of course was after paying the charge of $400 for servicing my application. A package is available from FEMA titled: “Processing Letters of Map Amendment or Revision”. Of course, I cannot advise anyone to not have flood insurance.

George Rosenfield was employed by RCA at the Atlantic Missile Range from January 1957 to July 1965; and at the USGS from 1968 to 1986. He has 7 1/2 years of Army active duty and 13 years in the Army Reserve. He retired as Major, Corps of Engineers.

We are pleased to publish the 2013 Florida ASPRS Regional Annual Meeting Proceedings from our Annual Meeting held on August 23rd, at the Tradewinds Resort, in conjunction with the Annual Florida Surveying and Mapping Soceity Conference.

 9:00 am – Brian Murphy, Florida ASPRS Region President Introductions State of the ASPRS and FL-ASPRS

9: 15 am – George Rosenfield – 1st FL-ASPRS President: "A Short History of the ASPRS Regional System and the Florida Region"

9:30 am  - Adam Benjamin, SAC and Amr Abd-Alrahman, SAC and YPC Advisor: “The FL-ASPRS Student Advisory Council and the ASPRS Young Professional Council”

9:45 am – Yao Yan, SFWMD:  “Geographically Weighted Regression: A Better Spatial Technique to Model Sediment Quality in Lake Okeechobee”

10:00 am – Al Karlin, SWFWMD:  “Ten Years (2003 - 2013) of LiDAR Missions at the Southwest Florida Water Management District - Lessons Learned” (Silver Sponsor)
 
10:30am – Thomas Morelli: "Maritime Applications of UAS Remote Sensing for Cost-Effective Improvements in Detection and Monitoring of Illicit Trafficking in Mesoamerican Territorial Waters implemented through comprehensive Engagement Strategy"

Every year the Florida Region provides to our members the opportunity to nominate professionals in the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) or supporting technology fields who have made significant contributions or advancements to the profession, and through these actions have promoted the stated mission of the ASPRS.  There are three levels of the award: Professional of the Year, Member of the Year, and  Student of the Year.

Congratulations to Adam Benjamin (FL-ASPRS Student of the Year), Mike Kitaif (FL-ASPRS Member of the Year) and Jasmeet Judge (Professional of the Year). Each of these awardees are given a one-year paid membership to ASPRS.

We would like to thank the following sponsors who made our Florida Region of ASPRS Annual Meeting happen.