“Mobile Mapping and Positioning” for infrastructure data gathering

Applanix, established in 1991, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Trimble Navigation Ltd and is leading the industry in established products and solutions for mapping and positioning from mobile platforms (air, land and sea). Our systems integrate precision Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) with advanced inertial technology (accelerometers and gyros) to provide uninterrupted measurements of the position, roll, pitch and true heading of moving vehicles. By combining GNSS and inertial technologies, fully integrated, turnkey solutions for high-productivity in-motion surveying, direct data georeferencing, and robust mobile mapping are now possible and available.

The markets that welcome these evolving methods of data collection are: 1) Traditional Airborne Photogrammetric Mapping 2) Corridor Mapping and Monitoring and 3) Rapid Response and Facility Management. The applications segments for this technology are extensive and include everything from road design and engineering, power utility mapping and monitoring, railroad track maintenance, coastal asset mapping, emergency response, land use mapping, and much more. Already this technology is being used around the world in environments beyond imagination.

The Technology

At the core of every product and solution that Applanix offers is the Applanix Position and Orientation System (POS™). POS is designed for marine vehicles (POS MV), air vehicles (POS AV) and land vehicles (POS LV). These systems consist of hardware and software specifically designed for direct georeferencing of data collected on moving platforms from the air, land and sea.

POS™ technology was originally developed and rigorously tested as part of an extensive military project. This proven technology was then enhanced, customized and packaged to yield an off-the-shelf commercial product. POS is a tightly coupled inertial/GNSS system, meaning it optimally blends the inertial data with raw GNSS observables from individual satellites. The result is improved positional and orientation robustness and accuracy when compared to either a GNSS or inertial solution on its own, translating to more accurate georeferencing of the on board sensors.

Aerial Survey and Mapping
By integrating precision GNSS with inertial technology, aerial mobile mapping enables geospatial projects to be completed more efficiently, effectively, and economically than with traditional approaches. When combined with aerial cameras, synthetic aperture radar, hyperspectral scanners and LIDAR technology, each piece of information collected by the sensors can be georeferenced to the Earth directly, without the need of supporting ground control.

“Aerial survey of a powerstation in Ontario, Canada.”

The POS AV can also be united with an integrated flight management system, to automates the collection of imagery and optimally guide the pilot. This maximizes collection efficiency and reduces workload. Utilizing a combination of specifically developed software and hardware tools, the system combines the best of both technologies with all the functionality necessary to simplify and streamline today’s aerial survey and remote sensing operations.

“Typical flight plan generated for use in surveying an area.”

The Applanix DSS is an example of a complete turn-key medium format airborne mapping solution that generates directly georeferenced colour or colour infrared map products using mobile mapping. The products include high-resolution orthophotographs, orthomosaics and Digital Terrain Models. The DSS mission planning, operation, post-processing, and analysis of data have all been simplified through an integrated workflow. Applications of the DSS range from corridor mapping and urban/regional planning to rapid response mapping, border patrol and change detection.

Used with Aerial Camera Systems (Film and Digital) Rapid Response Mapping o Rapid geo-information for disaster management o Time-dependent image acquisition and geo-location o Critical infrastructure mapping for Homeland Security Topographic mapping DTM (Digital Terrain Model) generation Orthophoto production Resource industry volumetrics Shoreline mapping Power line mapping Rail corridor mapping 3D City Models Used with LIDAR Accurate DEM (Digital Elevation Model) generation Multiple return measurements that are accurately positioned for ground and layer detail (ie forest canopy) Bathymetry data generation for shallow water and shoreline mapping and Erosion monitoring Topographic mapping 3D City models

Used with Synthetic Aperture Radar (all-weather capability) DTM (Digital Terrain Model) generation Radar-based topographic imagery Reconnaissance, surveillance Used with Hyperspectral Scanners Environmental monitoring (oil/chemical spills etc) Deforestation Species identification Land use Change detection

Land-Based Systems

Mobile Mapping is also achieved onboard moving ground based vehicles, such as cars, trucks, ATV’s, robots, and armored vehicles. The Applanix LandMark system is the industry’s first commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) program for mobile mapping of road-side infrastructure from land vehicles. Designed to increase productivity for both data acquisition companies and end users, the system integrates a metric digital camera with a POS LV positioning system, data acquisition and processing software, and industrial computers. Using the geo-referenced imagery and smart algorithms, it allows the user to accurately geo-locates signs and other such structures along the road, dramatically increasing the productivity of collecting road-side inventory using traditional, more manual methods. It truly maximizes the value of an investment in GIS as a decision making tool.

"… LANDMark is the result of market research we have conducted worldwide to truly understand the unique requirements of customers who need more efficient ways of mapping street side and trackside data," says Louis Nastro, Director of Land Products for Applanix. "For years service providers have been asking for a solution which takes the burden of engineering and support off of them and allows them to concentrate on what they do best and that is selling services to their end users. The LANDMark system allows GIS professionals to utilize a fully commercial off-the-shelf system customized for their specific use which can result in lower downtime, higher productivity and an outstanding return on investment

The LANDMark system is also completely scalable. Additional sensors such as streamed video cameras and LIDAR sensors can be added to the base system, which provide operators with the ability to collect high-resolution geo-referenced data of building facades, power lines, pavement, bridges and other points of interest, all within a single pass, at tremendous accuracy and with tremendous speed.

Land based mobile mapping and positioning provides an increase in productivity over traditional static methods in many market verticals. Within the road maintenance segment for example, information collection on assets can be coupled with road conditions to maximize productivity. With the simple addition of a camera aimed at the road, geo-referenced videolog of the pavement can be taken at highway speed without the need of costly lane closures, or the need to have personnel walking in the dangerous highway environment. Pavement distress can be classified and road fissures / cracking can be measured directly from the geo referenced video. Other uses can include:

Transportation:

• Street side asset inventory for urban asset collection, trackside inventory for rail applications (signs, track switches, etc)
• Sign database construction and condition assessment
• Videolog data/right of way data collection

The power infrastructure management segment

• Pole/transformer inventory
• Real Estate (Addressing, Assessment)
• Video data of property assessment for municipal taxation data records

Public Safety (Security, Emergency Services)

• Geo-referenced video of road infrastructure and buildings for providing accurate spatial data for situational awareness

Marine Based Systems

Similar to the land based system, the Applanix LANDMark Marine solution offers surveyors the possibility to collect surface image data from a moving marine vessel. The first of its kind in the world, the system allows marine hydrographers to expand their sub-surface mission capabilities and provide accurate maps of coastal and offshore assets from the perspective of the water.

The LANDMark Marine solution can be operated with a single camera, six or more cameras, or a combination of cameras and laser systems. It has been designed to give users maximum flexibility when integrating with other equipment.

It can provide Geographic Information System (GIS) professionals with essential data for:

• Port and Harbour asset inventory
• Coastal zone management
• Marine Hazard Mapping
• Vessel-based shoreline verification
• Mapping of near-shore features such as piers, rocks, islets, and aids-to-navigation

“Mobile LIDAR elevation colour coded point cloud image of Norfolk, Virginia.”

Results using Mobile Mapping and Positioning

Mobile mapping and positioning cuts costs while maintaining the high geopositional accuracy required for today’s mapping and GIS products. Traditional methods of data acquisition of this type i.e. the manual cataloguing of assets, surveying of ground control points to support airborne mapping, the closing roadways to statically assess and survey pavement condition, are far more time consuming and expensive to execute than mobile mapping, particularly when considering the cost of labor and processing data. From the surveyor’s perspective, whether it is a department of transportation requiring road data asset data, urban planning requirements for better street level data of neighborhoods or GIS data departments requiring more timely and accurate data to update databases, the needs of various organizations overlap and by collecting the highest accuracy data possible on a single pass the data more ubiquitous and therefore useful. And of course this makes it more affordable per use and valuable for the surveyor.

Specific Benefits Realized by Mobile Mapping and Positioning

• Lowered cost - achieved through many factors, primarily by being able to collect accurate geo-spatial information while moving
• Highly Accurate – State-of-the art GNSS/Inertial processing coupled with efficient Quality Control procedures ensure data is assessed against established survey points to maintain required accuracy
• Flexible - All components can be changed to fit multiple missions and moved between vehicles
• Expandable - Go from single camera system with various resolutions to multiple cameras and laser without changing core system architecture
• Supportable - System can be installed and supported worldwide and crew trained within 5 days
• Customizable - System is COTS and can be modified for specific missions
• Easy to use - System is designed to be turn key with no modifications required, start earning revenue from day one

Whether it is infrastructure management, homeland security, disaster recovery, or harbour asset control, mobile mapping offers a more efficient new way of getting the infrastructure data you need.