Press Review

Here you can find recently published press articles on RIEGL and its activities:

LiDAR-Technologie liefert hochgenaue Grunddaten für digitale Zwillinge

Digitale Zwillinge sind heute auch im Bahnbereich die Grundlage für die unterschiedlichsten Anwendungen. Hochgenaue Grunddaten für solche digitalen Zwillinge werden durch den Einsatz modernster LiDAR-Technologie (Light Detection and Ranging) bereitgestellt. Nun ermöglicht die Kombination eines terrestrischen Laserscanners mit einem Robotiksystem Abläufe der Datenaufnahme zu automatisieren, was diese effizienter und kalkulierbarer macht und so nicht nur bei geringem Zeit- und Personalaufwand hochgenaue Mess- und Bilddaten entlang der Strecke liefert, sondern auch die Sicherheit für das Messteam erhöht.

Dabei vermisst beim RIEGL VMR Robotic Rail Laser Scanning System ein terrestrischer Laserscanner extrem schnell und hochgenau die Umgebung, während die VMR-Plattform in benutzerdefinierten Abläufen den Scanner automatisiert an die gewünschten Messpositionen transportiert. Zusätzlich können von dieser Plattform noch weitere Sensoren angesteuert werden. Das System erlaubt somit auch kundenspezifische Integrationen und Erweiterungen und damit eine optimale Anpassung an die jeweiligen Anforderungen.

Der Artikel zum Thema RIEGL LiDAR Technologie im Bahnbereich ist in der Ausgabe Februar 2024 des Magazins "EI - Der Eisenbahningenieur" erschienen.

High-Precision Mobile Mapping for Accurate Road Surface Condition Parameters

Is it possible to produce road surface condition parameters using LiDAR data? The simple answer is yes, but not all of the current commercial mobile LiDAR systems produce data that is accurate enough to meet the requirements of the official national institutions responsible for road maintenance management.

This article focuses on RIEGL's Ultimate LiDAR technology, which has been used by Nordic Geo Center Ltd. to produce road surface condition parameters passing the official VTI (The Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute) tests conducted in Sweden. You will gain insight into the history of the use of LiDAR technology for road surface management, the challenges Nordic Geocenter has faced and continues to face, and learn about the latest developments in mobile laser scanning to meet and exceed today's requirements in this field.

Read the full article published on www.gisresources.com, December 2023.

RIEGL präsentierte Neuheiten auf der Intergeo 2022

Auf der Intergeo 2022 in Essen stellte RIEGL brandneue Produkte und Innovationen aus der Ultimate-Lidar-Technologie vor.

Die von RIEGL präsentierten Neuheiten stammen aus den Bereichen terrestrisches Laserscanning, Airborne Laserscanning, UAV-basiertes Laserscanning, Topo-Bathymetric Laserscanning und mobiles Laserscanning sowie aus dem Software-Bereich.

Den vollständigen Artikel zu den neuen Produkten im Bereich RIEGL Ultimate LiDARTM, veröffentlicht am 24.10.2022, finden Sie in der auf der Plattform gispoint.de.

Surveying Every Minute

Terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) has become an integral part of surveying. The scanners are becoming lighter and faster, so that even large projects can be completed with high precision in a short time. Today’s everyday life of a surveyor already looks like being able to take hundreds of scan positions every day and automatically process them into deliverable results within 24 hours.

With October 2022, the new RIEGL VZ-600i starts a new era of terrestrial laser scanning. Based on more than twenty years of TLS experience, the fourth generation of RIEGL’s static laser scanners has already been developed to meet customer needs. The biggest request concerns the weight, as these measuring devices are used for hours every day. Right after that, scanning speed is of utmost importance. This uncompromising approach to development has resulted in a high-speed scanner weighing only six kilograms.

Find here the full article about the latest innovation in Ultimate LiDARTM Technology published on www.lidarnews.com, October 2022.

Topographic Mapping for Snow Avalanche Hazard Modelling

Mass movements such as snow avalanches and debris flows pose risks to people and infrastructure in alpine regions around the world. These hazards can be simulated with advanced modelling software to support decision-making and risk mitigation, which requires accurate high-resolution digital elevation models (DEMs) to make results meaningful. Advances in satellite photogrammetric mapping (SPM) are bringing high-quality DEMs to many alpine regions previously lacking modern digital topography. At the same time, Lidar technologies are used to calibrate hazard models and offer rapid-response capacity to quantify the impact from hazards such as snow avalanches. Ongoing research in Aotearoa/New Zealand is highlighting the importance of topographic mapping in snow avalanche planning and preparedness.

A team of dedicated avalanche mitigation specialists manage snow avalanches hazards on Milford Road in Fiordland, New Zealand, using a variety of tools, including a network of alpine weather stations, HD webcams and a RIEGL VZ-6000 ultra-long-range scanner. The scanner is used to produce a snow-free DEM of avalanche terrain in summer as well as repeat mapping in winter to estimate snow depths. The scanner is also used for documenting avalanche paths after an event to calibrate the RAMMS avalanche model.

Learn how RIEGL products, such as the VZ-6000 3D Ultra Long Range Terrestrial Laser Scanner with Online Waveform Processing enable such a project.

Find here the full article about this case study published on www.gim-international.com, September 2022.

Underwater Deadwood and Vegetation from UAV-borne Topobathymetric Lidar

The monitoring of submerged deadwood and vegetation is gaining increased attention due to their socio-economic and ecological importance. Deadwood acts as an important underwater habitat but also poses a threat to bridges, hydroelectric power plants and riverside buildings. Underwater vegetation, in turn, is a proxy for climate change in general and global warming in particular. In this context, UAV-borne topobathymetric laser scanning constitutes a promising tool for accurately capturing and modelling these small-scale objects in high spatial resolution.

Alluvial forests surrounding natural rivers constitute an ecologically important and sensitive habitat. Seasonal flood waves carry deadwood into the active river channels, where it floats downstream until either natural or artificial barriers (river bends, bridge piers, hydropower stations, etc.) stop its movement. Such stranded driftwood plays an important role in aquatic ecosystems, for example as a shelter for juvenile fish stages, but log jams can also damage infrastructure and residential areas. In addition to deadwood, the monitoring of littoral vegetation (i.e. submerged vegetation down to a depth where sunlight can penetrate to support photosynthesis) is gaining ever more interest, as such vegetation acts as a proxy for climate change. Submerged macrophytal vegetation reacts in a very sensitive way to increased water temperature and other parameters induced by global warming. Therefore, the monitoring of the volume and distribution of driftwood in rivers and lake outlets and of littoral vegetation is an important topic from both an ecologic and socio-economic point of view.

Learn how RIEGL products, such as the VQ-840-G topobathymetric laser scanning system on an octocopter UAV were used for monitoring submerged deadwood.

Read the full article, written by  Gottfried Mandlburger, Martin Pfennigbauer and David Monetti, published on www.gim-international.com, April 2022.

Mapping Dubrovnik and Split with Integrated Airborne Sensor Systems

Nowadays, both image-based solutions and laser-scanning methods are evolving rapidly, but there is much debate about which technology is more efficient. Integrated airborne sensors, in which imagery and Lidar data are complementary, can provide interesting new opportunities, especially in complex situations such as city mapping. 

City planners require ever-more accurate, detailed and up-to-date geographical information. Whereas the high-resolution digital orthophoto was a big step forward to capture such detailed information 20 years ago, much more is needed today; a digital orthophoto alone is not sufficient. Eurosense recently had the opportunity to model two iconic Croatian cities: Dubrovnik and Split. In view of the project complexity, integrated airborne sensing combining imagery and Lidar data presented an effective solution.   

Learn how RIEGL products, such as the VQ-1560ii and the VQ-1560i-DW Airborne Laser Scanning System enable such a project.

Read the full article, written by Miklós Gross and Peter Rieger, published on www.gim-international.com, April 2022.

RIEGL Ultimate LiDAR in Forestry

Forests are critical to the environment's health. Their ability to regulate climate and water resources, carry out ecological functions and provide habitat for plants, animals, and human beings makes them the backbone of biodiversity. But unfortunately, these ecological primers are rapidly disappearing due to the challenges of the 21 st century climate change and global warming. Deforestation is not only considered as one of the leading causes of global threats, but these pressures in return also impact the existing conditions of forested areas.
For tracking the changes in climate and better accessing of forest structure, disturbance, management, and resources, LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) is identified as an indispensable tool. The laser scan data does not only save time but also aids in post­processing. LiDAR is a breakthrough remote sensing technique that gains appreciation from scientists around the globe due to its unprecedented accuracy. lt has immensely modified digitization in multiple fields of applications due to high accuracy and meaningful data acquisition of large areas.

Learn how RIEGL products, such as the VQ-1560i-DW Airborne Laser Scanning System or the VZ-400i Terrestrial Laser Scanner, along with UAV Systems are changing the speed and efficiency of Forestry Management and gaining the appreciation of scientists worldwide.

Read the full article published on www.gisresources.com, December 2021.

Small Scanner for Big Success

Five words to describe the company story of the South Tyrolian company Alto Drones, service provider for UAV-based laser scanning and photogrammetry and enthusiastic user of the RIEGL miniVUX Series laser sensors.
Thomas Fontana, founder and CEO of Alto Drones, attributes their success in a variety of applications, such as terrain surveying, surveying of ski resorts, geology, infrastructure, gauging snow and ice levels, archaeology and building research and agriculture in Italy, Austria, and Switzerland to the fact that he decided to work with the RIEGL miniVUX LiDAR sensor.

Find here the full article published at www.geospatialworld.net, May 2021.

For our German readers the article is also available in German language:

Kleiner Scanner für den großen Erfolg

Sechs Worte, um die Firmengeschichte des Südtiroler Unternehmens Alto Drones, Service Provider für UAV-basiertes Laserscanning und Photogrammetrie und begeisterter Anwender der RIEGL miniVUX Lasersensoren, zu beschreiben.
Thomas Fontana, Gründer und Geschäftsführer von Alto Drones, führt den Erfolg in einer Vielzahl von Anwendungen, wie z.B. Geländevermessung, Vermessung von Skigebieten, Geologie, Infrastruktur, Schnee- und Eishöhenmessungen, Archäologie & Bauforschung sowie Land- und Forstwirtschaft in Italien, Österreich und der Schweiz, darauf zurück, dass er sich für den Einsatz des RIEGL miniVUX LiDAR-Sensors entschieden hat.

Da der englische Artikel für Geospatial Media auf einem auf Deutsch geführten Interview mit Thomas Fontana basiert, können wir unseren Lesern hier auch die deutsche Version des Artikels anbieten.

Airborne Lidar Bathymetry in Close Up

RIEGL tested the performance of its topo-bathymetric airborne laser scanning system VQ-840-G in a transition zone context along the French Mediterranean coast. Initially planned as a UAV survey, tests were conducted using a fixed-wing aircraft due to the restrictions placed on operations by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The results are encouraging, and the next step will be drone operations in more challenging sea conditions.

The test was performed on March 2, 2021 at Cap Sicié, a cliff off the bay of Toulon and La Seyne sur Mer in the French Provence area of Var. To the east, an eye-catching twin rock formation, 'Les Deux Frères', served as a focus for data acquisition.
The test area (approx. 1152ha) was covered in 12 overlapping flight strips, resulting in a total of 60,864,774 single measurement points. A first analysis of the Lidar data showed that the topographic parts provided reliable multi-echo coverage, thus well capturing terrain beneath vegetation. The seafloor in the measurement area is composed of sand, which provides good reflectance due to its colour yet causes water turbidity when disturbed.

In order to reference and validate the results, the data was compared with existing, publicly available ALB Lidar data obtained by SHOM (the French Naval Hydrographic and Oceanographic Service).

Read the full article, written by Ursula Riegl, Beatriz López García and Martin Pfennigbauer, published at www.hydro-international.com, May 2021.

The Key Parameters of a Modern Lidar System

In the past, the effort of hardware integration and the necessary combination of different software tools was a major hurdle to gain a foothold in the field of laser scanning. This hurdle has now been removed, allowing users to focus on data acquisition and data analysis – the ‘real work’ of a surveyor. But what are the key parameters for a modern Lidar system?

State-of-the art Lidar systems are fully integrated sensor platforms, typically comprising one or more laser scanners, digital cameras of different spectral ranges, inertial measurement units coupled with global navigation satellite system receivers, flight guidance systems and more. But a Lidar system is much more than just the hardware. Nowadays it includes means and measures for determining the optimal configuration of system parameters and flight planning tools to maximize productivity, easy-to-use software for the operator that provides direct in-flight feedback on system status and the quality of collected data and, last but not least, comprehensive data post-processing software.

Since the mid-1990s, the development of laser scanning seems to have been following the Olympic motto: ‘Citius, Altius, Fortius’ (faster, higher, stronger). In the end, however, it’s not just about a race between laser scanner manufacturers, but primarily about demanding customers and their requirements to measure ever-larger areas efficiently and cost-effectively with the aim of delivering scan data of constantly increasing resolution and accuracy.

In this article, that has been published in course of the “Aerial Mapping Weeks 2021”, Peter Rieger, RIEGL Manager Airborne Laser Scanning Business Division, provides an insight into the technology and performance parameters that are the heart of any modern lidar system.

Read the full article published on www.gim-international.com, March 2021.

 

Going to the Finnish line

Traditional surveying methods have resulted in a roads database full of errors in Finland. Some 40,000 km of state roads in Finland are measured annually to analyse their condition for repairs and resurfacing. In general, the work is conducted using specialised measurement vehicles. In recent years, modern LiDAR technology with mobile laser scanning (MLS) systems has also been established as a new option for high-resolution road surveying.

Since 2015, laser scanning specialist Nordic Geo Center has been conducting tests with the Finnish Transport Infrastructure Authority to find out whether high-precision, inertial measurement unit (IMU)-based MLS can be used to generate road parameters of the same quality as those provided by the previously recognised methods. The last tests in the series were carried out in Sweden at the end of last year, in cooperation with the Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute (VTI).

Hannu Heinonen and Harald Teufelsbauer report on tests to determine whether mobile laser scanning can provide more reliable and accurate data.

Read the full article published on www.geoconnexion.com, September 2020.

Reunion Resort 3D Scanned in 8 Hours

This week RIEGL held a 3-day Training Symposium at the Reunion Resort in Orlando, FL. The terrestrial laser scanning segment of the symposium featured the RIEGL VZ-400i laser scanner, featuring automatic on-board registration.

To demonstrate the capabilities of this scanner the team decided to see what they could do to capture the grounds of the Reunion Resort. In eight hours they performed 400 scans with the VZ-400i and registered them in the field. The following is a recap of the project.

Read the full article published at www.lidarnews.com, October 2019.

Ewiges Eis, ade

Bildquelle: Süddeutsche Zeitung, Anton Brandl

Forscher der Universität Eichstätt vermessen die Alpen und ihre Gletscher aus der Luft - und machen den Klimawandel sichtbar.

Die Sicherheitseinweisung ist kurz. Nur ein paar Wolken hängen am Morgen über Thüringerberg im österreichischen Vorarlberg. Der Helikopter steht vor dem Hangar bereit. Vorne ragt eine Metallstange hervor, an ihrer Spitze sind ein Laserscanner und zwei Kameras befestigt. Hinten wartet der Heckrotor. "Wenn du da hinkommst," sagt Pilot Gisbert Strolz, "ist’s nicht so gut." Geograf Florian Haas prüft ein letztes Mal die Kabel, die sich von der Messanlage ins Cockpit winden.

Zeit zum Abheben. Zeit, dorthin zu fliegen, wo der Klimawandel längst sichtbar ist.

Drei Stunden werden Haas und Strolz in der Luft verbringen. Aus der Vogelperspektive wollen sie die Alpen vermessen und das, was übrig ist vom vermeintlich ewigen Eis.

Den vollständigen Artikel, veröffentlicht am 16.08.2019 von Maximilian Gerl und Anton Brandl, finden Sie in der Süddeutschen Zeitung.

Infrastructure Inspection – UAS Are All Over It

The infrastructure inspection sector has been quick to adopt unmanned aerial systems as a powerful new tool offering new ways to capture and process data and cut costs and safety risks.

Drones are now in worldwide use for inspecting utility towers and bridges, air transport infrastructure, railways and roadways, and much more. They can be operated at a fraction of the cost of traditional inspection crews, and, when equipped with the latest technologies, such as LiDAR, state of the art GNSS and inertial sensors, they can deliver the highest quality in imaging and positioning data.

Read the full article published at www.insideunmannedsystems.com, May 2019.

From above to below

It seemed an unsolvable challenge: how to add hydrographic survey capabilities to a helicopter without making it impossible to fly. Martin Pfennigbauer and Kohei Wakamatsu explain how two companies worked to make the impossible possible.

Nakanihon Air Service Co Ltd is one of the largest general aviation companies in Japan. It operates approximately 70 aircrafts, offering transport, emergency medical services, and aircraft maintenance, repair and modification services, as well as airborne research and survey.

In 2007, the company started airborne LiDAR works using a helicopter and a RIEGL LMS-Q560 with JIRCO’s high density medium-format digital camera part of a system called Sakura (‘cherry blossoms’) – approximately 70% of land in Japan is mountainous, so a helicopter platform is preferable.

The system gained wide acceptance in the market for its capture of high-density 3D point clouds, especially in dense vegetation.

Since then, the company has steadily upgraded the Sakura, with the Sakura-IV offering a pulse repetition rate of 400 kHz thanks to adoption of the RIEGL LMS-Q680i and a multiple field of view, medium-format camera-configuration that offers up to five different camera angles at the same time. It can now achieve more than 30 points per square metre of topographic point clouds simultaneously with multiple digital images, including approximately 5cm ground sample distance (GSD) nadir images, on a daily basis.

Read the full article published on www.geoconnexion.com, November 2018.

Novel LiDAR Data Improves Our Understanding of Tropical Forests

Dr. Kim Calders and his team have just completed 2 months of field work in Australian tropical forests collecting both terrestrial and UAS lidar data to support a novel lidar data fusion methodology.

Forest ecosystems contain more biomass than any other ecosystem. However, estimating biomass without cutting down trees is difficult. Traditional methods of estimating aboveground biomass (ABG) are based on correlations between destructive estimates of volume and diameter and/or height, which can be measured more easily in the field.

However, harvesting trees is expensive, often impractical and undesirable. 3D-FOREST, a three-year project funded by the Belgian Federal Science Policy Office led by Dr. Kim Calders and Prof. Hans Verbeeck from Ghent University, partnering with Dr. Harm Bartholomeus and Prof. Martin Herold from Wageningen University, aims at providing novel lidar in-situ 3D forest structure and biomass estimates to validate large-scale air/spaceborne biomass products. Co-incident LiDAR data from different platforms was collected to quantify aboveground biomass and forest structure in five tropical sites in Australia during a two-month fieldwork campaign in the dry season.

Read the full article published on www.lidarnews.com, October 2018.

Assessing the Potential

Understanding stream channel and floodplain morphology is critical for a number of efforts—from hydraulic modeling and stream-restoration design to aquatic habitat assessment. These applications require description of conditions both inside the channels and in the adjacent riparian zones. Gathering these data has typically relied on individuals on the ground or in boats taking measurements in small areas, or manned remote sensing flights that are designed to cover much larger expanses.

The advent of small unmanned aerial systems (sUAS), combined with innovations in sensor technology, is changing the equation for surveyors. These advancements give surveyors the power to do detailed elevation mapping over larger swaths than conventional ground/water-based surveys while providing greater detail at a potentially lower cost than manned flights.

Quantum Spatial Inc. (QSI) recently teamed with RIEGL to evaluate use of interchangeable bathymetric and terrestrial laser scanning sensors that could be used on sUAS platforms to support riverine mapping applications. QSI tested RIEGL’s new bathymetric depth finder (BDF-1) and the RIEGL VUX-SYS laser scanning system in three distinct riverine environments. The sUAS-based sensors were evaluated for their potential to efficiently collect channel geometry in areas where the water was not easily accessed or it was too dangerous to use ground- or water-based methods.

Read the full article published on www.xyht.com, April 2018.

Proving the Rescue Potential of Multi-sensor UAVs

When disaster strikes, the courage and experience of rescue task forces is put to the test. They face heading into the unknown every time they enter a terrain during a rescue mission. Efforts to implement the latest technological tools, such as UAVs, to support their work are aimed at providing safer working conditions for rescue teams and speeding up search activities to improve the efficiency of the entire rescue mission. UAV reconnaissance is considered a very powerful way of overcoming the potentially dangerous lack of information in affected areas.

Specially equipped unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs or ‘drones’) have in the past been proposed for firefighting, for search missions, for delivery of rescue kits, and many other impressive tasks. There are high expectations of the use of drones for this type of work, and for obvious reasons: they can go where it would be too hazardous or even impossible for manned aircraft to go. This is one of the major arguments for UAV utilisation.

An experiment was carried out within the framework of the Austrian research project called ‘SecuRescue’ and following emergency scenario was imagined for a test setup: a disaster, caused by natural forces or technical failure, hits an urbanised and partly industrial area. The test focused on how to provide essential access information to first responders as quickly as possible, and ideally in real time.

The RIEGL VUX-1UAV LiDAR System was used for acquiring the precisely updated topographic information and the data has been collected by RIEGL RiCOPTER-M.

Read here full article published at www.gim-international.com March 2018.

Comparing Lidar and Photogrammetric Point Clouds

Airborne Lidar and photogrammetry are both viable methods for capturing point clouds for 3D modelling of man-made hard structures. Although both methods produce point clouds, the manner of capturing data differs in many ways, resulting in point clouds with differing characteristics. In this article, the author evaluates Lidar and photogrammetric point clouds captured from unmanned airborne systems for inspecting a flood control structure.

The New Orleans District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) has been using small unmanned airborne systems (UASs) for land surveying, environmental monitoring, structural inspections and other applications. However, the characteristics of one UAS platform may greatly differ from those of another, and the same is true for the large variety of sensors. To identify key differences between the point clouds produced by UAS Lidar and UAS photogrammetry, a comparison has been conducted using a flood control structure as test site.

The RIEGL VUX-1UAV LiDAR System was used for land surveying, environmental monitoring, structural inspections and the data has been collected by RIEGL RiCOPTER. 

Read the full article published on www.gim-international.com, January 2018.

UAS-borne Lidar for Mapping Complex Terrain and Vegetation Structure

The development of lightweight, survey-grade Lidar sensors has made it possible to equip unmanned aerial systems (UASs) with very precise laser scanners, thus opening up new possibilities in the domain of close-range 3D mapping. To test the capabilities of UAS-borne laser scanning, a flight experiment was conducted using the RIEGL VUX full-waveform scanner mounted on a RIEGL RiCOPTER UAS platform. In the experiment, both the topography and the vegetation structure of an alluvial forest along the River Pielach in Lower Austria were captured. The resulting point cloud has a density of more than 1,500 points per square metre and an accuracy of better than 2cm.

The Neubacher Au is a Natura2000 conservation area near the confluence of the Pielach and Danube rivers. It is a highly dynamic landscape due to periodical inundation during flood peaks. The fluvial topography includes pristine channels, side channels and oxbow lakes. This topography is perpetually changing, as is the vegetation structure. As a retreat area for aquatic and terrestrial habitats, alluvial forests are of high ecological value. Mapping these sensitive areas with traditional terrestrial or airborne techniques is challenging due to the high complexity of the terrain and the vegetation.

The recent advance of survey-grade Lidar sensors with a weight of less than 10kg offers new perspectives for 3D mapping of complex natural landscapes in high resolution. To test the potential of UAS-borne laser scanning, a flight experiment was conducted using the RIEGL VUX sensor mounted on a RIEGL RiCOPTER UAS.

Read the full article published at www.gim-international.com, December 2017.

3D Laser Scanning for Heritage - Advice and Guidance on the Use of Laser Scanning in Archaeology and Architecture

"3D Laser Scanning for Heritage" is a guidance, produced by Historic England, that provide the necessary information to use laser scanning appropriately and successfully for heritage projects. It is hoped that from the advice given on how the method works and when it should be used, archaeologists, conservators and other cultural heritage professionals unfamiliar with the approach can make the best possible use of this now highly developed technique.

Laser scanning is a very capable and flexible technique but in many cases no single survey tool offers a complete solution, and other methods of three-dimensional (3D) data capture may be required.

Some of the given examples have been carried out by using RIEGL Waveform-LiDAR technology und show how RIEGL laser scanners and systems can be used for surveying, managing and caring for historic buildings and their settings as well as for investigating heritage.

Read here the full guidance published at www.hisoricengland.org.uk February 2018.

Geologist will upgrade monitoring of Greenland glacier critical to sea-level rise

University of Kansas in cooperation with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (CRREL) and supported by the Heising-Simons Foundation will install a second ATLAS System at Helmein Glacier in Greenland. The first system, that is situated on the south side of Helheim Glacier - with a RIEGL VZ-6000 Terrestrial Laser Scanner operating at 1064 um wavelength as its backbone -  already delivers valuable data to measure how the glacier is moving horizontally and vertically at the same time.

Helheim Glacier discharges a lot of ice each year and the scientists are very interested in understanding what controls its behavior. The second ATLAS (Autonomous Terrestrial Laser Scanning system) will be installed opposite of the first one to monitor rates of ice loss on the tidewater glacier undergoing large-scale changes due to global climate change. This will enable glaciologists to better predict future sea level rise – a topic of increasing importance to low-lying coastal communities.

Read here the full article published at www.news.ku.edu August 2017.

Photo Credit: Adam LeWinter, CRREL.

All in a Day’s Work

Can laser scanning from UAV and car replace total station and GPS surveys of roads?

A project in Croatia tried to find out: Developments in the field of laser scanners and laser scanning systems have increased in the past few years. Physical size has decreased while performance has increased. The number of laser pulses per second has reached a million and the measurement distance is in the hundreds of metres.

RIEGL has implemented these and other features in a variety of compact, powerful, and precise scanners. Attached IMU/GNSS units, governing control units and optional cameras collect/record a multitude of additional properties during each scan. Due to the straightforward attachment system, a quick and easy installation is possible onto helicopters, vehicles and even UAVs – the modern tools of choice to accurately surveying road infrastructure in the highest possible quality.

The system’s flexibility became an important aspect in a project of RiCOPTER UAV GmbH, which was executed in December last year on behalf of Geoprojekt LLC, one of the major geodetic companies in Croatia.

The company was interested in a practical demonstration of the benefits and advantages of laser scanning for their fields of operation. The mission was to acquire both mobile and aerial laser scan data of an area of 2km x 1.5km that had previously been surveyed conventionally using DGPS and total stations. The data acquisition was conducted using the RIEGL VUX-SYS laser scanning system. For mobile data acquisition, the system was used with the RIEGL VMQ-1HA mounted on a car wiwhile for the aerial data acquisition the RiCOPTER, RIEGL’s unmanned octocopter, was used as platform for carrying the VUX-SYS.

Read here the full article published at www.geoconnexion.com May 2017.

Merging Terrestrial and Hydrographic Scanning

Back in the late 1980’s John F. Sawyer saw the need for a surveying services company that could provide accurate hydrographic surveying and quantity calculations. Mr. Sawyer had a background in dredging and in 1989 Arc Surveying and Mapping (Arc) was born. The company is family – owned and operated with three brothers running the day – to – day operations.

Today Arc has a wide variety of underwater survey systems including multibeam and singlebeam sonar, Blueview 3D sonar and a magnetometer. They use a wide variety of software to post process the data including RiSCAN Pro and Hypack for the hydrographic data. Merging terrestrial and hydrographic data was acquired by using RIEGL VZ-400 3D Terrestrial Laser Scanner.

Read the full article published at www.lidarnews.com June 4, 2016.

Researchers create a virtual version of Chimney Rock in S.W. Colorado

Researchers want to make it possible for everyone to virtually walk through the ancient dwellings at Chimney Rock National Monument as the ancient pueblo people did.

„We’re going to try to recreate the experience of how they perceived the archaeological site,” said associate anthropology Professor Gerardo Gutierrez.

Their work is part of Project Map, an effort to model ancient and historic monuments across the state. Chimney Rock is one of their first projects. The data for the project was acquired by using a RIEGL VZ-400 3D Terrestrial Laser Scanner.

Read the full article published at www.durangoherald.com, May 18, 2016.

UC Santa Barbara Researchers Measure El Niño Coastal Erosion

With research data on tidal impacts, scientists hope to better predict coastal cliff erosion. Winter storms and tides may have battered the coastline, but UC Santa Barbara researchers are using those El Niño conditions to track the rate of cliff erosion in Santa Barbara County.
With any luck, findings might help local officials, planners and homeowners better plan for the future.

Read the full article published at www.noozhawk.com, February 17, 2016.

Der Superscanner der Polizei ist gelandet!

Eigentlich für den Einsatz im Helikopter gebaut, setzt die Kantonspolizei Zürich den VP-1 mit eingebautem VUX-1 Scanner nun auch erfolgreich für mobile Datenaufnahme am Boden ein.

In der Luft kommt das Laserscanning-System zum Einsatz, wenn Schadensplätze oder Ereignisse auf großer Fläche vermessen werden müssen, z.B. bei Zugsunglücken, Flugzeugabstürzen, etc.

Nicht immer aber ist ein Helikoptereinsatz möglich - in einem Tunnel z.B. kann dieser nicht eingesetzt werden. Dafür wird das System nun auch auf einem Auto eingesetzt und liefert bei gefahrenen Geschwindigkeiten von 30 km/h erstklassige Daten. Für eine Übersicht ohne viele Details kann die Datenaufnahme sogar bei Geschwindigkeiten bis zu 80 km/h erfolgen.

Mehr Infos im Artikel und im Video vom 19.11.2015 des Tagesanzeigers auf www.tagesanzeiger.ch

Flying-Cam introduces LIDAR to its UAS platform

Flying-Cam (an Academy Award-winning company that pioneered unmanned aerial cinematography) has added 3D laser scanning technology to its line of aerial platforms.

Emmanuel Prévinaire, Flying-Cam’s founder, president, senior pilot and system designer, was at Unmanned Systems 2015 in Atlanta last week to unveil the company’s SARAH (Special Aerial Response Automatic Helicopter) 3.0 unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) equipped with the RIEGL VUX-1UAV LIDAR sensor for 3D laser mapping.

Read the full article published at www.uasmagazine.com, May 2015 issue.

SKUR: Change Data Tailored to the End User

SKUR CEO Adam Cohen describes their software solution as a tool for "visualizing variance." At the most basic level, that means it  takes a design model and a current point cloud of the same asset, and generates a visual representation of the differences between the two. It uses cloud computing and advanced algorithms to do it in a negligible amount of time.

When the team demoed the software for me, they pulled up one of these visual representations. It depicted a room with three pillars. Most of the room was green, meaning that the as-built scan (gathered with a RIEGL scanner) matched the design model perfectly. One pillar was yellow, which meant that it had shifted a little bit, and another was red, which meant that it had shifted a lot.

On this basic technology, SKUR has built a tool that could be essential to the construction and facilities management industries.

RIEGL support SKUR as a development partner.

Read the full article published at the SPAR Point Group website.

Takeaways from RIEGL's LiDAR 2015 in China

SPAR Point Group was Media Sponsor of the RIEGL LIDAR 2015 User Conference and sent Sean Higgins to report from Hong Kong and Guangzhou. Find here his impressions from Guangzhou.

With users, RIEGL staff, and press arriving in Guangzhou, RIEGL began the second portion of its international user conference. This portion of LiDAR 2015 was well attended and the keynotes were packed. Here are a few quick takeaways and some more in-depth thoughts on RIEGL's Chinese debut.

Read the full article published at the SPAR Point Group website.

Bathymetry of Lake Constance

In 2014 the by far biggest German lake has been newly surveyed. The transnational project is funded by the European Union and delivers a detailed 3D-model of the lakefloor. The German project name is »Tiefenschärfe – Hochauflösende Vermessung Bodensee «, which in English roughly means: high-resolution survey of Lake Constance. The German term »Tiefenschärfe« (in optics and photography: depth of field) plays with the meanings of »Tiefe« (depth) and »Schärfe« (sharpness). The result of the survey shall be a clear and sharp image of the deep lake-floor. At present the LiDAR and multibeam data are still processed, but first results are presented in this article.

Data was acquired with support of AHM AirborneHydroMapping GmbH ( www.ahm.co.at ) using a RIEGL VQ-820-G hydrographic scanner.

Read here the full article.

RIEGL's CTO, Dr. Andreas Ullrich, talks about the company's future plans and strategies

 

In the interview with Geospatial World (Issue July 2014) Dr. Andreas Ullrich underlines that RIEGL is continuosly providing the LiDAR markets with innovative products, he mentions the biggest breakthroughs in terms of technology f.e. the introduction of the LMS-Q1560 in 2013 and the VQ-820-G on the airborne side  in 2012 as well as the efforts in raising the ranges.
Dr. Ullrich is talking about new areas of operation, the emerging UAS segment and technical innvoations from RIEGL side in the future.

VQ-820-G

 

the biggest breakthroughs in terms of technology in this field — both airborne and terrestrial - See more at: geospatialworld.net/Magazine/MArticleView.aspx

the biggest breakthroughs in terms of technology in this field — both airborne and terrestrial - See more at: geospatialworld.net/Magazine/MArticleView.aspx

the biggest breakthroughs in terms of technology in this field — both airborne and terrestrial - See more at: geospatialworld.net/Magazine/MArticleView.aspx

 

Read the full article published in Geospatial World, July 2014 issue.

Des Barker flies the Diamond Guardian DA42 Multi-Purpose Platform

There is no doubt that the technology gap that has traditionally existed between the classic military/civil purpose-built paltforms and the generic, smaller commercial airframes, is rapidly diminishing. A "first" in South Africa as a surveillance platform for CK Aerial Survey, the Diamond DA42 MPP was presented for evaluation in the LIDAR surveillance mission. The aircraft was equipped with a RIEGL airborne laser scanning system LMS-Q680i providing a rapid, highly accuarate and efficient method of capturing 3D data for various applications.

Read the full article published in WORLD AIRNEWS, May 2014 issue.

Australian Aerial Innovation

Airborne Research Australia brings unique capabilities – including powered gliders reported to be more economical than UAVs – to a wide range of research projects. One of the key factors in their all-in-one approach is ARA’s cost-effective aerial platforms, including the RIEGL Q560 full waveform lidar.

 

The entire article was published in the November 2013 issue of “Professional Surveyor”

 

www.profsurv.com

Easter Island - Archaeological site is preserved using laser scanning technology

Commissioned by Conaf IPA, ReStudio - a TI company - and with the advice of GEOCOM, the latest technology was made available for the conservation of an archaeological site listed among the one hundred most vulnerable heritage sites of the world. A RIEGL VZ-400 and a RIEGL VZ-4000 terrestrial laser scanner were used for data acquisition at Easter Island.

Find here the full article as published in Spanish language in the September 2013 issue of "Sustenare".

www.sustentare.cl

Find here the full article translated into Englisch language.

 

Innovation in 3D - A visit to RIEGL Laser Measurement Systems

With great anticipation Marc and Allen Cheves from LiDAR Magazine / Lidar NEWS have attended the RIEGL LiDAR 2013 User Conference in Vienna last June.
Following the conference they got very interested in the details behind "Innovation in 3D".

They decided to extend their stay for getting all the details for a comprehensive company portrait. The entire article was published in volume 3, issue 5 this October, and offers a great insight on RIEGL.

Read here the full article.

www.lidarnews.com

Dr. Riegl with Peter FitzGibbon at INTERGEO 2012

Meet Dr. Johannes Riegl

At Intergeo 2012 Conference and Trade Fair in Hanover, Germany, Geoconnexion's Peter FitzGibbon interviewed Dr. Johannes Riegl, the founder and Chief Executive Officer of RIEGL Laser Measurement Systems.

Find here the full arcticle.

www.geoconnexion.com

 

Foto: Kantonspolizei Zürich

Das 3D-Auge des Gesetzes:
RIEGL VZ-400 im Einsatz bei der Kantonspolizei in Zürich

Sie sehen alles und vermessen auch kleinste Teile millimetergenau - dank Hightech Ausrüstung löst die Schweizer Polizei ihre Fälle schneller.

Lesen Sie den vollen Artikel aus dem "Sonntagsblick" vom 27.1.2013 von Leo Ferraro.

www.blick.ch / www.sonntagsblick.ch