UK: Aerial mapping company Bluesky is launching their MetroVista city mapping service for Europe at the Intergeo trade fair in Stuttgart, Germany. As the first company in Europe to take delivery of a Leica CityMapper, Bluesky will be showing the MetroVista imagery created from the hybrid airborne sensor that can simultaneously capture vertical and oblique aerial photography as well as LiDAR.
Bluesky’s MetroVista range includes stunning high-resolution imagery together with high accuracy, wide-scale 3D models. The first in Europe, and still only one of a handful in operation around the globe, Bluesky’s CityMapper has already been used to capture MetroVista data for cities across the UK including London, Manchester, Newcastle and Bristol.
Bluesky is also able to offer the MetroVista service, using the CityMapper sensor, around the world using its network of international operating and flying bases.
“This technology is just beginning to change the way we view our urban environments,” commented Rachel Tidmarsh, Managing Director of Bluesky International. “Not only does the use of the CityMapper to produce MetroVista data reveal previously unseen aspects of towns and cities it also makes this data more accurate, faster to capture and process and therefore more affordable.”
“We are increasingly seeing demand for this data for smart city modelling, infrastructure and building planning, risk assessment and environmental modelling and early adopters of MetroVista have included architects, planning consultants and other map publishers,” she continued.
Bluesky’s CityMapper, used to produce the MetroVista data, includes a traditional vertical camera as well as survey-grade oblique cameras. Specially designed for 3D city modelling and urban mapping, the sensor also includes high performance LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) technology to accurately collect elevation data even into the shadows, which are common in urban environments and make photo-based data collection difficult. The CityMapper sensor also collects colour infrared data, which can be used to aid greenspace mapping and vegetation studies.
