(Sun Prairie, WI)— Continental Mapping Consultants, Inc. recently completed a high accuracy lidar mapping project for the US National Park Service at Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site in central North Dakota. This is one of multiple historic and archaeological mapping projects Continental Mapping has delivered.

Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site is home to the historic and archaeological remnants of the Northern Plains Indians who used this area as a major trading and agricultural area. This historic site holds the remains of earth-lodge dwellings that are now circular depressions in the ground along the Knife River. Continental Mapping used high accuracy lidar to assist park managers with the identification of cultural resources, natural resources, and threats to resource integrity such as river erosion or changes to plant communities within the park.

“This great project showcases how lidar and geospatial solutions can be applied to archaeological protection and cultural resource management. We look forward to future opportunities with the US National Park Service to provide lidar and aerial imagery services for their parks,” said Dave Hart President of Continental Mapping.

The aerial lidar data was collected with a low flying helicopter mobilized within only a few days of the award. Continental Mapping’s skilled lidar experts generated a high accuracy elevation model of the area, providing critical information for identifying archaeological resources, riverbank erosion, vegetation communities, and park infrastructure. Our lidar analysts used great care and proven methodologies to preserve important features such as earth lodge depressions, constructed mounds, trails, and other archaeological features.

“We were happy to utilize our helicopter acquisition capabilities via our co-venture with METRO Geospatial. The team’s extremely fast mobilization was critical to the success of the project,” said Account Manager Ronald Schonegg.

Headquartered in suburban Madison, Wisconsin, Continental Mapping is provider of geospatial data development services to private and public sector clients. Offering a full range of geospatial data creation capabilities from full service land survey to photogrammetry, LiDAR, and satellite remote sensing services, we are the leading small business geospatial experts in the country. In this ever-changing industry, Continental Mapping is committed to providing high quality products and solutions with the newest, and more importantly, most-applicable, technology.