1. U.S. Department of the Interior U.S. Geological Survey Summary of OSL RFI Inputs Received 20 April 2011

2. 2 Background USGS Optical Science Laboratory (OSL) is faced with questions regarding consumables, costs, and rationale for existence OSL Customer requirement review completed in Spring 2010 Request for Information (RFI) issued early March 2011 Six questions asked, plus opportunity for general comment 34 total responses received 20 – Flyers/camera owners 6 - Consumers/contractors for aerial data 8 – 3 rd parties Glass Plates required for continued operation

3. 3 Answers 1.Do you, or your agency/company/business, have film mapping camera calibration requirements that could be provided by the Lab beyond September 2012? (29 answers)  Yes – 21 (72%)  No – 8 (28%)  no answer – 6 2.Do you, or your agency/company/business, have film mapping camera calibration requirements that could be provided by the Lab beyond September 2016? (28 answers)  Yes – 13 (46%)  No – 11 (39%)  Uncertain – 4 (14%)  no answer – 6

4. 4 Answers (cont.) 3.Do you know of an in situ camera calibration process that you could utilize as a replacement for the traditional Lab camera calibration method?  Yes – 5 (18%)  No – 21 (75%)  “Heard it might be possible” – 2 (7%)  no answer – 6

5. 5 Answers (cont.) 4.If the USGS Lab stopped operation in the fall of 2012, what would be the impact to you, your agency/company/business, and industry? (28 answers)  Positive – 1 (4%)  None/little – 3 (12%)  Negative – 15 (58%)  Very Negative – 7 (27%)  no answer/irrelevant – 8

6. 6 Answers (cont.) 5.Do you foresee an industry solution or alternative for the operation of the Lab or a comparable calibration facility available beyond 2012? Are you aware of similar services starting up or planning to start up? (28 answers)  Yes – 1 (4%)  No – 25 (89%)  Uncertain/mixed – 2 (7%)  no answer – 6

7. 7 Answers (cont.) 6.Do you foresee an industry solution or alternative to obtaining the information provided by the Lab’s Report of Calibration for film mapping cameras after the closure of the Lab? (26 answers)  Yes – 4 (15%)  No – 20 (77%)  Possibly/something needs to be done – 2 (8%)  no answer – 8

8. 8 Respondent comments 7.“Do you have any other comments on the Lab, the services they provide, or future operations?”  Many Good Comments about the great OSL service!  Continued value to current users was apparent  Small businesses had major “going out of business” issues  Some thought new research methods could be used in the future  Some thought we should research digital processes

9. 9 Additional Learning RST undertook effort to know industry in Spring ’10  Contacted 75 existing OSL customers, rec’d input from 65  Total of ~180 cameras existing Not all being used  Dropping to ~100 in 5 yrs  Average 1/3 calibrated annually  Trend is declining

10. 10 Summary RFI confirmed previous customer requirement review that market is alive and active, and slowly declining over the next 5+ years  cameras/year; 2011 – 40-50; 2016 - 20-30; beyond - ? Over 70% of the market still needs camera calibration services though 2012 Approximately 50% of the market may use calibration in 2016 Greater than 85% said, OSL closure would have a negative impact or be fatal to their business Near term alternatives for analog camera calibration are not available

11. 11 Summary OSL Glass Plate issue  Current Plate supply available through approximately 2012  Minimum order quantity of 1500 glass plate equivalents – cost of $144,440  Another buyer for 25% of the minimum order  USGS cost is $101,108 (direct $) Only 34 total responses and 20 flyer responses to RFI