Leica CoastalMapper opens up new airborne bathymetric mapping possibilities

Leica Geosystems, part of Hexagon, has unveiled the Leica CoastalMapper. According to the manufacturer, the new airborne bathymetric Lidar solution increases coastline and river survey efficiency by 250% compared to previous sensor generations, thanks to a wider field of view and the ability to be flown at higher altitudes.

As airborne Lidar bathymetry continues to advance, it is poised to become an essential tool for hydrographic surveyors, attracting significant interest within the industry. The CoastalMapper represents an advanced approach to airborne hydrographic mapping, supporting applications such as infrastructure resilience assessments, river flood monitoring and environmental studies in both shallow and deep waters.

“We aim to empower our community with tools that meet current needs, anticipate future challenges and push the boundaries of bathymetric mapping,” stated Anders Ekelund, vice president of airborne bathymetric Lidar at Leica Geosystems. “We’re beyond pleased to offer our customers this radically enhanced system for more detailed and efficient surveys. Powering easier yet more comprehensive data analysis and supporting a broad range of bathymetric applications, the CoastalMapper opens mapping possibilities that were hard to achieve before.”

Surveying complex environments

The CoastalMapper integrates a high-performance bathymetric Lidar module with a Leica TerrainMapper-3 topographic Lidar and imaging sensor in a compact, lightweight sensor head. It captures up to one million bathymetric and two million topographic data points per second, while providing RGB imagery at a 5cm ground sampling distance (GSD) and NIR at a 7cm GSD. Covering up to 360km² per hour, the system enables efficient, high-resolution data collection.

Mounted on a Leica helicopter pod, the CoastalMapper is tailored for surveying complex environments, including steep mountainous coastlines and river systems. Its simultaneous capture of bathymetric and topographic Lidar, along with imaging, significantly reduces survey time, operational costs and environmental impact. The newly launched solution integrates with Leica Geosystems’ airborne mapping workflows, ensuring compatibility with existing processes and reducing the need for additional training – an important advantage given the ongoing challenge of finding skilled personnel, yet large demand for charting underwater environments.

The CoastalMapper’s cluster processing capability facilitates the analysis of large datasets, accelerating the transition from raw data to deliverables such as classified point clouds, digital terrain models and imaging products.

The mapping of underwater terrain and the monitoring of coastal and inland waters have been transformed by airborne bathymetric Lidar, which is attracting increasing interest from the hydrography sector and adjacent fields. The launch of the new CoastalMapper is well-timed and plays into this growing interest, which in turn arises from the search for more possibilities to map underwater areas.