Category Archives: Aerial/UAS
Closer Than It Looks
Above: High-definition mapping sensors (lidar, digital, and oblique imagery, here mounted on a helicopter during collection of an autonomous vehicle mapping project) provide an accurate, cost-effective approach to limit the interference and potential delays related to collecting extensive control on a right of way. A hybrid of geospatial technologies could help autonomous vehicle mapping drive...
UAS — Don’t Blink
The audible signature of drones is readily recognizable. With the flood of consumer drones, the distinctive whir of those little propellers fills our skies and thoughts. But there is another sound associated with drones and their commercial manifestation in the form of UAVs and UAS that might someday soon be cause for alarm: the “whoosh”...
The Merging Trend in Aerial Mapping
My take on company consolidation in the aerial mapping industry. The old saying—that history repeats itself—seems to be as true as ever in the photogrammetric mapping industry. Twenty years ago, an investment group began acquiring aerial mapping companies with the goal to amass a powerhouse that would dominate the industry. I call this the battleship...
WaldoAir &The Space In-Between
James Summerville, president and CEO of WaldoAir, talks about how its aerial imaging system is capturing the niche between conventional UAS imaging systems. Heights: What were the driving forces for the development of the XCAM system? James Summerville: In 2013, my business partner Jim Kain and I decided the marketspace for imaging systems was overloaded...
UAS Legislative Round-Up
What will 2016 mean for online commercial sUAS registration in the NAS? Online Registration Last year, registration for hobby/recreational sUAS went online. It was so simple I think it has confused people as to what the commercial registration process will look like. Because I have a recreational sUAS and am required to register it, I...
Shedding Light on Lidar
RIEGL USA’s CEO talks about the important trends in the lidar profession. For an inside look at the lidar profession, Heights interviewed James Van Rens, CEO of RIEGL USA. RIEGL provides a wide range of lidar scanning solutions for the aerial mapping and surveying profession, as well as mobile and terrestrial scanning applications. Van Rens...
