About-banner

About Us

Get to Know the Team Who Helps You Understand Your World

Who We Are

We’re engineers, data scientists — and map nerds. Our desire to help you understand and make sense of the world around you led us to create a company that produces reliable, accurate datasets and decision-making tools for customers in the insurance, aviation, telecommunications, railway and government markets — and anyone else who needs a more comprehensive understanding of our planet.

What Is Remote Sensing?

Remote sensing is the science of acquiring information about the Earth's surface without being in contact with it. This is done by sensing and recording reflected or emitted energy and processing, analyzing, and applying that information. Learn more about remote sensing in a tutorial we created for Natural Resources Canada.

Our History

Intermap has a long history of collecting, processing, analyzing and delivering 3D terrain data, from all sources, to solve problems with speed, accuracy, recency and global scale. We are celebrating 102 years of history in June 2021. Learn more about our history below.

102-Year Track Record

Intermap’s history begins in 1919 when its predecessor, Pennsylvania Aero Service Corporation, was founded as North America's first aerial survey company. In 1920, it changed its name to Aero Service Corporation.

Timeline: Evolution of Intermap

1919

Pennsylvania 1921

Aero Service Corporation, 1921. Aerial view of the Schuylkill River looking southeast from the vicinity of Fountain Street in Manayunk, Philadelphia. https://www.librarycompany.org/

1919

Intermap’s founding company, Pennsylvania Aero Service Corporation, became the first aerial survey company in North America. Aero collected the first aerial imagery of Pennsylvania by mounting a camera on an aircraft.

Aero Service Corporation is the oldest flying corporation in the world. Aero used aircrafts to collect aerial photos of Philadelphia using a 20-inch focal length glass plate camera attached to the plane’s cockpit cowling.

1928

Benjamin Franklin Bridge, Old historic district Philadelphia

Aero Service Corporation, 1928. Benjamin Franklin Bridge, Old City Historic District, Philadelphia.
https://www.librarycompany.org/

1928

In 1928, Aero completed an aerial survey in Philadelphia covering 4,000 square miles.

1932

Beach Haven, New Jersey

Aero Service Corporation, 1931. Aerial views of the seaside community of Beach Haven on Long Beach Island, New Jersey.
https://www.librarycompany.org/

1932

In 1932, Aero collected aerial imagery for the entire state of New Jersey, marking the first time a complete state was photographed.

1934

Fairchild T-3A camera_crop

Fairchild T-3A Five-Lens Camera used by Aero Service to survey for the TVA from 1936-1937. Aerial Cameras and Photogrammetric Equipment: A Quarter Century of Progress, Revere G. Sanders, Fairchild Camera and Instrument Corp.
www.asprs.org/wp-content/uploads/1944_sep_136-159.pdf

1934

In 1934, the Tennessee Valley Authority required development of the potential resources of the 43,000 square miles of the Tennessee River Watershed. Topographic map coverage at scales of 1:62,500 and 1:125,000 was sparse. Aero Service was awarded a contract to produce the aerial photography and compile mosaics. Aero assigned two "Fairchild 71" aircraft, each equipped with a camera. All flight layout, film processing, printing, mosaicking, copying and reproduction were completed by Aero. The camera used resulted in a central vertical and four oblique negatives simultaneously. The side oblique views (43⁰ from the vertical) were transformed in a special printer to near-verticals. Each mosaic board covered 7.5 minutes of longitude and 15 minutes of latitude, at a scale of 1:20,000.

1938

30th street station and main post office philadelphia

Aero Service Corporation, 1939. Aerial views of the area of West Philadelphia at 30th and Market Streets. 30th Street Station and the Main Post Office are visible, as are several bridges crossing the Schuylkill river.
https://www.librarycompany.org/

1938

In 1938, Aero compiled precise photo-mosaics of 11,000 square miles of Utah for the Soil Conservation Service. Aero photographed the project areas and rectified the photos to fit the specifications. The rectification was accomplished with a precision rectifying camera designed and built by Aero.

Aero participated in several important projects, including work with the U.S. Geological Survey and for the European and Pacific theaters during World War II.

Source: Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing, Vol. 50, September 1984

back to top

Acquiring Strategic Capabilities

1961

Map of Liberia

Planimetric map, Liberia. Scale 1:1,000,000. Published in 1957 by the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey from shoran-controlled mosaics of aerial photographs of 1953 by Aero Service Corporation, Philadelphia, PA.
https://purl.stanford.edu/bh084wv9467

1961

Aero Service Corporation was acquired by Litton Industries to become a mapping and survey division of Litton.

1974

Princeton NJ - 1963

Aero Service Corporation. Princeton Aerial Photograph 5-7-1963 (CMZ-3DD-35).
Retrieved from https://earthworks.stanford.edu/catalog/princeton-8c97kr86q

1974

Aero Service Corporation merged with Western Geophysical Company of America, another division of Litton, where it was dedicated to the creation of maps and aerials and aerial surveys.

1977

STAR 1

Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) sensors are located in the RF transparent radome beneath the aircraft.

1977

Intera Information Technologies acquired Western Geophysical Company's remote sensing group.

1983

STAR 1 - 1

STAR-1 system aboard a Cessna Conquest was used for ice reconnaissance when Intera won the contract with CANMAR in 1983.
Read the December 6, 1983, Calgary Herald article here.
Read the April 9, 1984, Maclean’s article
here.

1983

Intera won a three-year contract with Canadian Marine Drilling Ltd. (CANMAR), a subsidiary of Dome Petroleum, to monitor shipping lanes in the Beaufort Sea. Intera developed surveillance devices billed as the most advanced commercial ice early warning system in the world. The STAR-1 system (Sea Ice and Terrain Assessment Radar) allowed drill ships to identify ice floes as small as 15 - 20 meters in size previously overlooked by other devices. Under the contract, Intera set up the STAR-1 surveillance flights from Inuvik, N.W.T. on a daily basis during drilling at a well named Kogyuk N-67.

1992

eutah-mizushima-OWwK_0_EnxY-unsplash

1992

From 1992 to 1996, Intera was involved in the Central African Parks project creating topographic maps for all of Africa’s tropical forest parks. Around the same time, Intera also operated STAR-2 for ice reconnaissance to support arctic shipping lanes and operated STAR-1 for terrain mapping around the world.

1996

WorldMap

Learn more about Intermap’s history with DARPA here.

1996

Intera split into three groups: Intera Environmental, Schlumberger (acquired the petroleum portion), and Intermap (remote sensing group). Intermap acquired the world’s most advanced terrain data collection system from DARPA.

1997

Industries curvey

1997

Intermap became a listed company, focusing on acquiring companies involved in remote sensing.

Present Day

Today Industries

Present Day

Intermap is always building new solutions and its growing geospatial library powers AI-driven algorithms, making each new solution faster, more affordable and richer in information. Intermap distributes products and solutions globally, with simple and light-weight architecture, through the cloud, or behind a firewall.

Whether the requirements are for better terrain awareness, change detection, feature extraction, foundation mapping, or predictive analytics, customers on every continent can leverage Intermap's architecture to maximize their geospatial investment. Intermap’s vertically integrated products, solutions and software simplify many large-scale terrain data challenges and make the solutions accessible to non-expert users.

Your World.

Made Simple.

Your World. Made Simple.

back to top

Mapping with a B-17 Flying Fortress

1961_beruit

N5017N in Beruit, Lebanon in 1961.
Ken Stoltzfus Collection, www.john2031.com

Aero Service Corporation operated N5017N, a Boeing B-17 bomber, from 1949 until 1962. During the 13 years, the aircraft flew almost one million miles, which is enough to circle the globe more than 35 times. Prior to Aero’s purchase of N5017N, the aircraft was used to ferry fresh shrimp to east coast markets as it was manufactured too late to participate in WWII.

n5017n - 1940s

N5017N at an airport in the 1940s.
Ken Stoltzfus Collection, www.john2031.com

N5017N was flown all over the world, flying at 30,000 feet, to collect aerial imagery for various mapping projects. During September and October of 1956, the aircraft flew 44 consecutive days to obtain photo coverage of 150,000 square miles of Saudi Arabia.

N5017N Ohio 2006

N5017N landing in Ohio in 2006.
Ken Stoltzfus Collection, www.john2031.com

In the summer of 1962, the aircraft was sold to Chris D. Stoltzfus & Associates, of Coatesville, PA, to be used for forestry dusting operations and fighting forest fires. On March 31, 1981, N5017N was donated to EAA restoration program to maintain the aircraft in airworthy condition.

Sources: Prop Wash Magazine, 1962 October Edition.
Ken Stoltzfus Collection, www.john2031.com.

back to top

Intermap Board of Directors

Patrick A. Blott, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer

Patrick Blott creates a clear vision and makes it reality through strategic direction and strong execution. Mr. Blott’s leadership focuses on establishing growth by identifying, creating, and exploiting business advantages in key markets. He is an expert on strategic partnerships, business strategy, and financial investments, and has worked with government and business leaders around the world to achieve success. As CEO and Chairman of the board at Intermap Technologies, Mr. Blott leverages his 28 years of experience into the geospatial market to grow the core business in four key areas: Collection, Processing, Products, and Answers. Mr. Blott has held numerous key positions including co-founder of Blott Asset Management, L.L.C (2005), Founding member of Borealis Capital Corporation (2002), JP Morgan & Co, BMO and Banc of America Securities. In that time, Mr. Blott led transaction teams and assisted in underwriting $1.01 billion of private equity investments, a private buyout of $700 million company (2004), a $565 million acquisition and development of William Osler Health Center (2003) and led a subsidiary carve out of Express Pipelines Corp for $2.1 billion. Prior to 1993, he was a Special Assistant and Policy Advisor in the government of the Rt. Hon. Brian Mulroney. Mr. Blott is an experienced public company director in geospace, having served as Chairman of the Special Committee for OSI Geospatial, supplier of command and control systems for the U.S. Navy since October 2011. Patrick holds an MBA from Columbia Business School, a BA in Political Economy from the University of Western Ontario and completed post-graduate work in Political Economy at the University of Toronto.


John (Jack) Hild, Independent Director

Jack Hild is an independent member of the Board of Directors of Intermap Technologies Corporation and Intermap Federal Services Inc. (IFSI), which provides services to the U.S. government. Mr. Hild has a multitude of experiences in the geospatial, government, defense and intelligence sectors. Mr. Hild spent 30 years at the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) where he held numerous senior executive positions, including Deputy Director of Source Operations and NGA’s Assistant Chief Information Officer. After the September 11, 2001 attacks, Mr. Hild crafted NGA's Homeland Security mission, including major policy reviews and the development and implementation of geospatial data and tradecraft initiatives. Mr. Hild served as Chief Information Officer and Vice President of Defense and Intelligence Strategy at DigitalGlobe. Throughout his career, Mr. Hild supported major crisis actions as a cartographer and executive leader. He was a principal in NGA International Initiatives, leading bilateral production and analysis strategies with many nations and providing executive oversight during the creation and implementation of the Multinational Geospatial Co-Production Program (MGCP). Mr. Hild is the recipient of numerous awards, including NGA’s Distinguished Civilian Award and the Norwegian Defense Medal. Mr. Hild has been appointed to the National Geospatial Advisory Committee, as Co-Chair of the United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation Working Group.


Philippe Frappier, Independent Director

Mr. Frappier is a performance oriented, entrepreneurial leader with high-energy, reliable temperament, and exceptional interpersonal skills, who passionately believes that connections between people are at the heart of all successes in life and in business. Mr. Frappier is currently the Vice-President, Client Services with IQ Partners. IQ Partners is a strategic human capital management firm specializing in executive search, change management and leadership transition for the technology, media, and communications industries. Mr. Frappier has expertise in the area of emerging digital technologies. He brings his extensive expertise in effective people strategies and organizational structure and culture to the Intermap board providing guidance and oversight to help maximize the investment and potential in human capital. Prior to joining IQ Partners, Phil was a partner at Searchlight Recruitment Inc. Searchlight is a hands-on boutique executive search firm and, in his time, there worked with and advised companies such as: Microsoft, The Globe & Mail, Shaw Communications, Corus Entertainment, DHX Media, Bell Media, CBC/Radio-Canada, and Rogers Communications Inc. With over 12 years of executive search and recruitment experience, he has successfully delivered on hundreds of senior level searches in these areas. Prior to his career in executive search, Mr. Frappier worked in Film, Television and Commercial Production in both Canada and the US, having developed an expertise in digital technology and multi-platform content delivery. Mr. Frappier joined the Intermap Board of Directors in January 2017 and serves as Chairman of the Compensation and Benefits Committee. Phil has been an integral architect of Intermap’s restructuring, including the executive team selection, incentive benchmarking, and human capital development. Mr. Frappier holds a BA from Bishop’s University of Lennoxville, Quebec.


Jordan Tongalson, Independent Director & Audit Chair

Jordan is currently a Managing Director and leads Business Development at Littlejohn & Company, a Greenwich, Connecticut-based investment firm focused on private equity and debt investments, primarily in middle market companies. In addition, Jordan contributes experience and relationships from prior roles at The Blackstone Group, where he advised Blackstone Capital Partners on LBO and private equity investments, and Morgan Stanley, where he led building products and government services (including geospatial) investment banking coverage within the Global Industrials Group. Mr. Tongalson also worked for Siemens in the M&A and corporate development group where, among other projects, he led the sale process and strategic repositioning of its global transit telematics systems business, a pioneer in geospatial software and analytics.


Cary W. Ludtke, Strategic Advisor to the Board

Mr. Ludtke is a strong leader with broad functional experience who thinks and acts strategically with a proven record in leading and managing transitions. He consistently builds high-performance teams that have demonstrated the ability to deliver, starting with opportunity capture, closing with timely execution to contract deliverables. Mr. Ludtke currently serves as a strategic advisor to the Intermap Technologies Board of Directors. In his advisory role, Mr. Ludtke brings a wealth of experience and knowledge to Intermap with over 36 years of directly related executive, managerial and engineering experience in the remote sensing technology space. He adds tremendous value to ongoing strategic planning efforts. Most recently, Mr. Ludtke served as the Vice President and General Manager of the Ball Aerospace Commercial and Operational Space Strategic Business Unit. His responsibilities included delivery to financial performance objectives, strategic planning, market assessment, business development and project execution. Mr. Ludtke now brings this wealth of knowledge and experience to the Intermap board. Mr. Ludtke holds the Pride in Excellence and NASA Design Excellence award, is a member of the Government Electronics and Information Association and the American Astronautical Society and has also been Published in Scientific Journals, Reports and Presentations. He holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Brigham Young University, and has completed the Archaeological Institute of America (AIA) Executive Program for High Technology Companies at Stanford University.


Harry W. Utter, Board Advisor

Mr. Utter returned to Intermap joining the Federal Services Board of Directors in January 2017. Mr. Utter was Vice President Intermap Technologies from 2001-2008 where he lead and managed sales and operations for the Federal Services subsidiary of the firm primarily serving the DOD and Intelligence Community. In addition, Mr. Utter was Intermap Vice President Global Sales and Channel Partner Programs from 2008-2012, also serving as the Director of Sales from 2001-2007, where he managed global sales and business development with a global sales force and international channel partners in North America, Europe, Asia, Latin America, and Australia. Mr. Utter brings a broad and expansive background to the board in the areas of geospatial data, acquisition services, and commercial applications software for government and commercial customers. Mr. Utter is currently the Vice President, Geospatial Consulting Services, for Citiventure Associates, a strategic consulting firm specializing in Urban Redevelopment, Public-Private Partnerships, Geospatial Strategies, and Arts Consulting and Sales. Prior to joining Intermap, Mr. Utter was President and General Manager with Logicon Geodynamics Services Corporation, 1989-2000, where he managed a subsidiary specializing in satellite remote sensing applications and value-added mapping services for Defense, Civil Government, and Commercial clients. Mr. Utter is a career Air Force Officer with 20 years of dedicated and diversified experience in contract management, finance, development and operations of classified satellite and space systems. Mr. Utter holds a Bachelor of Science degree from US Air Force Academy and an M.B.A. from the University of California, Los Angeles.


Ray Fitzgerald, Board Advisor

Mr. Fitzgerald joined the Intermap Federal Services Board of Directors February 2018. He is an accomplished Aerospace, Defense, Government (ADG) and technology industry executive with over 26 years proven expertise as a founder and growth driver in corporate strategy, structure and operations, mergers and acquisitions (M&A), government contracting, security, safety and regulatory compliance. Mr. Fitzgerald is the founder and Managing Director of BlackPoint Ventures, a consulting and services company providing strategic corporate development, executive management, business growth strategies, M&A due diligence, emerging technology evaluation, facility clearance oversight, safety management and "Aviation Best Practices" in the Aerospace and Defense, Technology, Logistics and Health Care industries. Previously, Mr. Fitzgerald founded BroadBay Group Corporation, a special mission aviation company which provided full spectrum Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) operations as well as Research, Development, Test and Evaluation (RDT&E) facilitation of emerging technologies for US Government, allied foreign nations and commercial clients. Mr. Fitzgerald is a former Navy FA-18 instructor pilot and Aviation Director for the Naval Special Warfare Development Group (DevGru). He brings a wealth of expertise, qualifications and track record of successful outcomes in all phases of business growth within commercial, government, military, aviation and technology sectors.

Join the Intermap Team

At Intermap, people make the difference. Our team is dedicated to innovation and a drive to see that our customers get the geospatial solutions needed to transform their businesses.

Contact us if you’d like to join our team.