Enabling city digitisation wherever you can go
Two years of city mapping completed in only 5 weeks
PROJECT: City mapping in the cities of Alès and Gap, France
CUSTOMER: Cabinet Brière
PRODUCT: Leica Pegasus:Backpack, Leica Pegasus:Two, Leica Pegasus:MapFactory
OBJECTIVE: Create a digital map of the two towns, Alès and Gap, to analyse their infrastructure and improve the electricity network.
Cabinet Brière was tasked with digitising the Ales, France and Gap, France to compare the two cities’ historic and more modern infrastructure. Using these two towns as standards the Électricité Réseau Distribution France would better understand, operate and manage the country’s electricity distribution network.
Combining Leica Pegasus:Two with the Leica Pegasus:Backpack the entire city was mapped in only five weeks, a project that would have normally taken two years, increasing productivity by more than 20 times.
Download the full case study for more information
Roads. Building facades. Road signs. These are just a few of the assets surveying firm Cabinet Brière needed to map in the towns of Alès and Gap to provide a 3D digital map of the communes in southern France. Needing to better understand, operate and manage the country’s electricity distribution network, using these two towns as standards, the Électricité Réseau Distribution France (ERDF) contracted the 58-year-old firm known for revolutionising working methods, both in the office and in the field, with new technologies.
A unique combination for innovation
In 2015, the French government instated the Plan Corps de Rue Simplifié (PCRS) as a means to share plans of infrastructure between communities. This sharing of information promotes public safety and opens dialogue between community leaders.
To meet this requirement, ERDF needed a digital map of the entire cities of Alès and Gap to compare the two cities’ historic and more modern infrastructure assets. ERDF turned to a pioneer in 3D surveying.
Cabinet Brière President Philippe Jeudy was one of the first users of the Leica Pegasus, a mobile reality capture platform attached to a vehicle for 3D laser scanning of active environments. Jeudy and his partner, Guy Perazio of Perazio Engineering, first tested the Leica Pegasus in 2012. Both seeing the opportunities in the mobile reality capture technology, they decided to invest and develop more business with their new capabilities.
Three years later, when the duo responded to the ERDF’s solicitation for digitalising the two cities' assets, Jeudy and Perazio were by this time now experts in mobile reality capture. With their even more versatile Leica Pegasus:Two and the new Leica Pegasus:Backpack, the wearable reality capture solution with a LiDAR profiler and five high-dynamic cameras, the team was able to capture more than ever before.
"With the Leica Pegasus, I can complete any project without any technical limitations," said Jeudy. "Combining various forms of innovative technology, like SLAM (Simultaneous Localisation and Mapping) and LiDAR, Leica Pegasus provides an integrated yet unique mapping solution."
Leica Pegasus relies on the combination of:
- A point cloud acquired through a 3D laser scanner
- An image achieved through high-density cameras
- A GPS sensor for defining the absolute position, and
- An inertial measurement unit to record all movements.
When in GNSS-denied areas, such as under bridges or inside enclosures, frequently found in mapping city assets, the Leica Pegasus:Backpack with SLAM technology is the first positon-agnostic solution capable of orientating itself to capture data. Working with these images and point clouds together, data is captured into a single platform and workflow - from the operator interface to a single-click post-processing.
Download the full case study for more information
Want to learn more about 3D digital mapping of the French cities Alès and Gap? Download the full case study.
Want to learn more about our mobile mapping solutions? Contact our team for more information or to request a demo.