Category Archives: Aerial/UAS

Sponsored Content: Revolutionizing Utility Mapping in North America

As many of you already know, inaccurate utility locational data is one of the main causes of utility strikes. In 2021, this has led to an estimated $30 billion societal cost due to delays and damages in the USA alone, according to The 2021 Damage Information Reporting Tool (DIRT) Report released in October by the...

Safety is Paramount in Aerial Drone Mapping

As the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) prepares to release its ruling covering uncrewed aircraft flights beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) in the National Airspace (NAS) the entire industry is holding its breath preparing for a new era of certainty and expansion.  Aerial photogrammetry will be one of the immediate beneficiaries of this new policy...

The Construction Automation Continuum

It’s more about many minor triumphs than major leaps. Surveyors can play an essential role in implementing these changes To those outside of the industry (and some within), the term “construction automation” evokes visions of bots and autonomous equipment plying construction sites—efficient and tireless—yet always on some far horizon. In present reality, construction automation takes...

Built for Danger

While the operator stays safe, indoor drones carrying lidar and SLAM technology create a 3D map of the inside of hazardous spaces Nuclear power plants, ballast tanks, underground mines, toxic chemical plants, sewers, offshore oil storage, decommissioned industrial facilities—none of these are places suitable for humans; yet monitoring and inspection of the interiors are often...

Disruptive Lidar Tech

Technologies developed for autonomy and consumer applications are opening up new user segments and rewriting conventional workflows A construction inspector sweeps their phone over an open trench creating a 3D as-built of the utilities within. This is just one example of low-cost, rapid, simplified reality capture is challenging conventional wisdom on how reality capture should...

Geospatial Markets 2023

With a declining housing market and a possible recession, where are the opportunities in 2023? If you follow the news at all it’s been hard to escape the media drumbeat of “recession next year.” How deep will it be and how long it will last seem to be the only topics up for discussion. Predictions...