Neara announces automated LiDAR classification

Neara, a leading climate tech software platform and provider of 3D interactive simulation models of critical infrastructure, has announced its revolutionary automated LiDAR (Light Detection & Ranging) classification solution will be available through a new self-service offering.

Utility companies, and geospatial teams that capture and classify LiDAR for utilities, will now have easy access to LiDAR classification that is up to 30 times faster than manual LiDAR classification, which across a 10,000 square mile network area can take up to 80,000 hours and cost millions of dollars.

Manual LiDAR classification involves painstaking effort, with a single linear mile taking up to 10 hours to classify. The manual process typically requires multiple analysts per project, with multiple sets of human judgements leaving room for error, subjectivity, inconsistency, and, as a result, inaccuracy. The automated classification available through Neara’s self-service offering applies a single logic across an entire project territory, reducing the frequency of common errors. Manual processing can easily conflate disparate objects in dense areas. Importantly, automatic LiDAR classification can also detect utility assets that would otherwise fly under the radar as noise with a manual approach. When geospatial analysts manually classify LiDAR, they cross-reference assets with utilities’ Geographic Information System (GIS) records — but when GIS records are incomplete, analysts have no hope of accurately classifying those assets with a manual approach.

Automatic LiDAR classification also makes LiDAR significantly more affordable, from both an absolute cost and time efficiency perspective.

www.neara.com