Presented to: The International LiDAR Mapping Forum

Geoverse Case Study: Using LiDAR to perform statewide inventory of sign assetsFebruary 24, 2015

About Greenman-Pedersen, Inc (GPI)

• Multi-discipline engineering firm

• Established in 1966

• 1100 employees

• 20 offices

• Transportation Asset

Management

Project Overview

• Traffic Sign Asset Management Project

– Massachusetts DOT

– Inventory of all signage on state-owned routes (14,000 lane miles)

– Night-time Retro-reflectivity condition

– Implement Asset Management System

– Tie into existing Maximo system

– 2 Year Project

GPI Proposal

• GPI has completed over 50 similar projects

• Proposal: Use high-res LiDAR /

High res Inventory

to conduct inventory

• Value Added Proposition.

Drive it once

1. Additional Assets

2. Visualization

3. Survey Grade Areas

Data Collection

NIKON D800• 36 MP Highest

Resolution ML Calibrated Video/Still

• Mapping Camera

RIEGL VMX450• Up to 1,100,000

measurements per second• Dual 360 FOV Scanners• Up to 5000 points/SM

NIKON D800

RIEGL VMX450

Project Overview

VueWorksLidar files

Photos

Amazon EC2 Cloud

(Virginia)

•Drive Limits

•Route Priority

•High Resolution Areas

•Drive Schedule

Drive Plan

•LiDAR /Camera Array

•Data Delivery to GPI

Data Collection

•HyRoad

•Daytime Condition

•Load to VUEWorks

Extraction

•Comparison Panels

•Nightrider

Retroreflectivity

Maximo Export

GISRoad Construction

Project Schedule

MassDOT priority

Data Details

• Inventory approximately

250,000 signs

• Dataset is over 50 TB

• 40 TB LiDAR

• How to deal with it?

The Old Way

• Data Extractors navigate through imagery

to find assets.

• Work in small sections

• Cut cross sections

• Perform measurements / assessment

• Time consuming / Unorganized

Wouldn’t it be nice….

• Navigate seamlessly through the point cloud

• View imagery and LiDAR

in concert

• Speed up extraction

• ILMF last year

What Geoverse Did (and Didn’t)

• Pros

− Could handle large amounts of LiDAR data

− Measuring Capability

• Cons

− Had no database tie in

− Software Development Kit (SDK) $$$$

Solution: Geoverse API

• Worked with Euclidean and Merrick to develop a Geoverse Programming Interface

• Allow data to be passed between GPI developed extraction software and Geoverse

• 2 key components

− Control Geoverse point of view

− Return measurements

• Developed Custom Extraction software: HyRoad

HyRoad Software Demonstration

Current Project Status

• Extracted over 70,000 signs

• Night Assessed Over 50,000 signs

• Driven over 40% of project roads

• Planning spring drive

missions if the snow

ever melts….

Realized Benefits

• Ease of locating signs in point cloud

• Increased extraction productivity

• Can view entire dataset in a single project

• Compression

• Opened several possibilities for data visualization

Geoverse Details

• Data displayed using a 3cm pixel

• Compression is approximately 20:1

• Each LAS file is converted to UDS format

• 1 UDS / LAS per Route Direction

Lessons Learned

• Compression allows for new horizons

• Geoverse is not LiDAR

• Processing….

• Procedures need to be altered

• Work with good partners

MassDOT Geoverse Demo

688,978,485,040,032 points so far…

Questions

Mark Day Director of Application Development

Greenman-Pedersen, Inc.Engineering and Construction Services

325 West Main Street, Babylon, NY 11702d 631.539.3705mday@gpinet.com