I just got off the phone with Ted Knaak, founder of Certainty 3D in Orlando, FL. Ted has been one of the leaders in developing point cloud processing software for the use of mobile LiDAR in transportation applications. Ted is finding that it is not so much the technology as it is the organizational issues associated with procuring mobile LiDAR data collection and processing that is holding things back.
Public transportation agencies, such as DOTs have established methods of accounting on time and materials projects.These are slow to change, especially in the face of a disruptive technology like mobile LiDAR which has a much different cost breakdown associated with its workflows.
I have invited Ted to share his thoughts with us on how we can best address these issues. In the meantime if you have any comments on the subject please pass them along.
Ted is right. The FAR accounting standards do NOT allow for the realization of the time savings, nor the real market value of the product that can be delivered from mobile mapping. It makes it very hard to pay for a 500k+ investment. It also does not reward the service provider for using less hours on a time and material contract.