All posts by Matteo Luccio
Ground Control Points as a Service?
Ground control points for aerial, satellite, and UAS imaging and remote sensing projects, large and small, can be downloaded on-demand—what a service! We look at an example service, and link to an upcoming webinar of the subject. With cameras pointed at Earth from hundreds of cubesats and tens of thousands of UAVs, in addition to...
Aerial Surveys Weathering Corporate Consolidations
How Aerial Surveys, an independent aerial photogrammetry company, survived the wave of consolidations and continues to grow. Featured image: An Aerial Surveys International aircraft flies the Colorado River in Utah. Aerial Surveys International (ASI), based in Watkins, Colorado, provides aerial photogrammetry services using digital mapping cameras, film cameras, and lidar devices. It has remained independent...
Hidden Infrastructure in 3D: Visualizing with AR
A visualization platform overlays data displays on your view of a job site by fusing data, AR software, and mobile-device sensors. From Superman’s x-ray vision, to current technologies that use radio waves to sense objects through walls. The ability, fictional or actual, to “see” through obstacles has long been a source of fascination. (Above: An...
3D Evidence
Diagram software helps the New Mexico State Police enhance their extensive forensics work. Reconstructing what happened at the scene of a traffic accident or a crime is a complex undertaking involving scientific methods, physical evidence, deductive reasoning—and their interrelationships. It also requires hardware to gather data and software to analyze it and display it. Laser...
UAV Stakes Out New Ground
Above: A prototype of the Civdrone UAV preparing to drill a stake into the ground. A flying/staking robot has taken a huge step forward in automation for site layout, including road, rail, utilities, and energy applications. Working the traditional way, how many surveyor-days would it take to mark the 300,000 points needed to lay out a...
Accuracy with a Phone?
Photogrammetry is now possible using consumer devices, and the applications are vast. Continuing improvement in digital cameras—including those in cell phones—and in photogrammetry algorithms have enabled dozens of consumer and professional photogrammetric applications. Among the professional ones is PhotoModeler, which produces accurate maps, drawings, CAD data, 3D models, and photos draped on 3D models. Its...