Alerted by the shootings in a movie theater in Aurora, CO and similar events at high schools and colleges nationwide, law enforcement agencies is eager to invest in new technology to get a leg up on criminals.
Accurate maps of public buildings are important for police and ambulance to allow them to respond quickly in case of an emergency. Indoor mobile mapping can provide these mission critical data in the most efficient manner.
No longer do you have to rely on blueprints that are older than the building itself. Now you can work with an highly accurate, up-to-date 3D model of the interior of a building that’s enhanced by digital imagery.
Google has pioneered indoor mobile mapping when they started recording Streetview imagery in museums around the world. They even mapped the inside of the White House …
Now Trimble’s Applanix division jumped on the band wagon. They offer one of the first commercial indoor mobile mapping systems on the market. They call it TIMMS.
TIMMS combines LiDAR scanners with 360° imagery on a cart, that can be easily moved around a building. A large office building can be scanned in a single day, saving the owners 80% of the cost of capturing similar data with traditional means.
Public safety and emergency response agencies are interested in this technology and the data it produces. An Iowa High School became the beneficiary of the first successful indoor mapping projects. The video below summarizes the benefits of this project.
Which applications will most benefit from indoor mobile mapping? Tell us by leaving a comment below!
