“3-D mobile mapping will grow as we meet the needs of our growing population”

How does 3-D capture technologies help to ‘understand infrastructures’ better?

The world is not flat. By working with 3-D technologies, we are able to represent our world in a model which best approximates reality. This enables us to compare to plans and monitor our world in this model – it enables us to accelerate building new infrastructures by knowing the exact dimensions that we are starting with. It is our best tool today to enable growth.

What challenges did you keep in mind while developing a product like Pegasus:Two?

A tool should not limit how, when, or where a user captures data. We worked hard to make the Pegasus:Two as flexible and vehicle independent – as possible. We wanted to create a product which was fast to deploy while also being flexible in how the user would use this tool. This was our key focus.

How do you see the growth of 3-D technologies in the years to come?

The population is growing fast and people need to be mobile. They are travelling by car, bus and train every day – to work, to school, or to visit friends and family. The safety and security of the transportation network is important while focusing on assuring the capacity is in place to meet the growing demand of travel. The only way to meet these demands is to increase the efficient and effectiveness of infrastructure construction – while using the same tools to monitor the infrastructure for safety and security. 3-D mobile mapping and mobile solutions will grow as we meet the needs of our growing population.

What are the future innovations you foresee in 3-D survey and mapping domain?

Future innovations from Leica Geosystems in 3D and mapping will continue our original goals – not limiting how, when, or where a user captures. We have already showed with the Pegasus:Backpack that a user can capture indoors – this will expand. Leica Geosystems is leading the marketing in making the hardware independent of how, where, and when a capture is done!

How cost effective is to use a mobile mapping technology?

Mobile mapping currently provides the most cost-effective solution to 3-D capture. A single capture enables the user to use the data multiple times while also accelerating the time to engineering drawings. Using Mobile Mapping makes sure there are no site revisits since the site is brought back to office in the form of point clouds.

One of the reasons for NHAI (National Highway Authority of India) to mandate the use of Mobile Mapping for Road Survey was to mitigate the delay caused due to human error and also how conventional methods missed important infrastructure from site. With India moving the Smart City way Time is money and Mobile Mapping is how we save Time and Cost over runs due to repeated site visits in the form of Survey Crew and their Logistic expense on site.