The Pitfalls of Working with Lidar
The arrival of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs or ‘drones’) has democratized the Lidar market forever. Everyday projects can be flown easier and faster, and sensors are getting lighter, more accura...
Article Archive
An extensive archive of all articles published on GIM International
Visualizing point clouds in game engines
How can the dense point clouds that originate from 3D mapping be turned into useful game engine scenes? This article considers issues including point classification and segmentation, geometric accurac...
High-resolution topography of a World Heritage cave
TLS and SfM photogrammetry have been used for the geodetic surveying and 3D mapping of the Ochtiná Aragonite Cave in Slovakia. This world-famous karst landscape of significant geological, geomorpholo...
Mapping Radiation in Chernobyl
The use of UAV-Lidar is being tested in the complex terrain of the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. The aim of the University of Bristol team is to demonstrate that, in the event of a nuclear incident, it co...
Large-scale UAV-Lidar Survey in the Tropics
With a total length of 2,789km, the Trans-Sumatra Toll Road Project is one of Indonesia’s National Strategic Projects and the longest toll road project in Southeast Asia. In order to keep the projec...
Creating a Digital Twin of the Earth
An unprecedented scientific effort to Lidar-scan the entire surface of the Earth before it’s too late... that’s how Christopher Fisher, the founder of the Earth Archive, describes his initiative. ...
The use of airborne Lidar to visualize history in 3D
Airborne Lidar and 3D modelling technologies were used at the historic site of Fort Anne in Nova Scotia, Canada, not only as an aesthetic recreation of history, but also to help scientists decide wher...
The challenges of surveying the Faroe Islands
Remotely situated in the northern Atlantic Ocean, roughly equidistant from Scotland, Iceland and Norway, the Faroe Islands form a rugged and rocky archipelago. The cool and cloudy weather, with strong...
Handheld Mapping of One of Europe’s Largest Caves
Geospatial mapping specialists and technology from GeoSLAM have been involved in a project to map the Lombrives cave in southern France. The Human Adaption Institute conducted a pioneering isolation e...
The rise in UAV inspections for civil infrastructure
UAVs with a higher level of autonomy can make civil engineering inspections safer, faster and more accurate, plus they support the monitoring of infrastructural changes over time. The increasing devel...
Hydrospatial Technology: Collaboration Expanding Globally to Address Escalating Needs
Hydrospatial could be described as that portion of geospatial knowledge infrastructure that addresses the hydrosphere, and hydrospatial technologies support navigation, economic development, stability...
The Shifting Boundaries of Point Cloud Processing Time
Time issues associated with processing point clouds are hugely frustrating, but they are nothing new. And the shifting boundaries mean that we’re destined to forever play the waiting game, according...
Improving efficiencies with panoramic basemaps
A new basemap combines 360-degree aerial imagery and precise location data, providing an immersive new way to view and experience the built world from every cardinal direction. Basemap imagery offerin...
Automatically produced true orthophotos for large urban areas
In orthophoto projects of dense urban areas, true orthophotos are preferred over traditional orthophotos because they put building roofs into the correct horizontal position. However, there is still a...
Automatic Segmentation of Point Clouds in Architecture
A new algorithm has been developed that automatically identifies architectural elements and creates 3D models of building interiors. Over the last decade, the demand for digital twins has increased in...