Hexagon acquires ITRES to expand the scope of airborne mapping

Hexagon has acquired ITRES, the Calgary-based provider of high-performance airborne hyperspectral and thermal imaging systems, strengthening its ability to deliver richer multi-sensor geospatial data for advanced airborne mapping and analysis.

The acquisition unites two complementary portfolios under one provider. Hexagon brings a market-leading suite of airborne sensing and processing products for geodata development – including Lidar point clouds, high-resolution optical imagery, digital twins, integrated workflow software, flight planning tools and data delivery systems. ITRES adds hyperspectral and thermal imaging sensors operating across a wide spectrum of wavelengths, enabling precise material identification and temperature analysis beyond the reach of visible and near-infrared modalities alone.

Together, these capabilities allow customers to collect richer, more analytically powerful datasets from a single airborne survey. Fusing multispectral and thermal data with Lidar and optical imagery opens new possibilities for ground surface assessment, object classification and thermal property detection, while Hexagon's proven software ecosystem helps teams process and act on that data faster. The result is a more complete multi-sensor mapping platform, and new opportunities for hybrid data fusion workflows that previously required combining solutions from multiple vendors.

"Geospatial professionals are looking to extract deeper insight from each airborne survey," said Anders Svensson, president and CEO of Hexagon. "By integrating hyperspectral and thermal sensing into our portfolio, we further expand the range of information that can be captured and analysed. Combining complementary sensing technologies helps geospatial professionals improve classification accuracy, better distinguish materials and derive more reliable thermal insights, supporting more advanced and specialized applications."

Pushing the boundaries of airborne remote sensing

Founded in 1979 and headquartered in Calgary, ITRES has spent more than four decades pushing the boundaries of commercial airborne remote sensing. Sustained technical innovation has driven the company to the lead position in the airborne hyperspectral market – and kept it there – alongside high-performance sensor designs that continue to set the industry standard. With full vertical integration across optics, electronics, software and data acquisition, ITRES maintains end-to-end control over data quality across its full range of visible, near-infrared, mid-wave infrared and thermal imaging systems.

These capabilities extend the analytical depth of airborne surveys across a broad range of use cases – from environmental applications such as urban heat mapping, water quality monitoring, wetlands mapping, and minerals and geology, to disaster response scenarios including locating active fire hotspots, detecting people or objects through heat signatures, and rapidly delivering georeferenced thermal imagery to first responders.

"We welcome the ITRES team and its exceptional capabilities within airborne hyperspectral and thermal imaging to the Infrastructure & Geospatial Business Area. From a technology perspective, the portfolios of Hexagon and ITRES are highly complementary, enabling us to meet our customers' full range of needs in advanced airborne mapping," said Henning Sandfort, president of the Infrastructure & Geospatial Business Area.

ITRES will be reported within Hexagon's Infrastructure & Geospatial (formerly Geosystems) Business Area, within the Scanning & Mapping Division.