New enhancements of LiDAR based mobile mapping systems are hitting the market at a rapid pace. LiDAR mapping from vans and trucks has become the state of the art for surveying and mapping. New products target niche applications, such as pavement management, street sign inventories and quarry surveys.
Here are two new products that are ideal for roadway mapping. Even better, they are portable. This means that they can be easily installed in different types of vehicles, such as cars, boats or even trains.
The Topcon RTP-300
Topcon equipped Google with mobile mapping vehicles to capture Streetview data all over the world. So they have quite some experience in this field, especially with GPS and inertial navigation.
The RTP-300 is specifically designed for road surface surveys. It consists of a bar equipped with 3 lasers that is attached to the rear of a vehicle. As your drive along the road, it captures 3 profiles of your lane and computes the ride index.
As part of this integrated solution, the 3D laser profiles can be directly inserted in Topcon’s SiteMaster automated machine control system, which is used to control the blades of graders and bulldozers.
Of course, you can use the RTP-300 for your regular pavement condition surveys, analyze the data to compute your PCI and create a resurfacing plan for your department. When you are done you easily dismount the system and use the truck for other applications.
Here’s a video that shows how the Topcon system works:
MDL Dynascan
The Dynascan is a compact, rotating laser that’s integrated with an inertial system and GPS in a small unit. It can be easily installed in any type of vehicle and is completely self contained. Just connect it to the 12V power supply of a standard cigarette lighter and you are up and running.
Go to the MDL product page to get a brochure and watch a video of how easily Dynascan can be installed and operated. One of the applications they discuss is the surveying of quarries to calculate the volume of material removed during a certain time period.
Please contact us, if you have questions concerning portable LiDAR mobile mapping systems. Leave a comment below, if you have experience with any of these products and want to share it with the rest of our readers.
