To the Russian Border and Back with a Mobile Lidar Demonstration
Nordic Geo Center Oy, RIEGL’s distribution partner in Sweden, Finland and Estonia recently performed a mobile lidar demonstration project with the RIEGL VMX-2HA on Highway 7 (aka E18); a highway that traverses east-west from Helsinki to Vaalimaa, on the Finnish side of its border with Russia.
Nordic’s Nina Heiska and Hannu Heinonen wanted to show how the RIEGL mobile laser scanning (MLS) system – with both lasers configured to operate at full capacity, and paired with its six cameras – easily collects massive amounts of high quality 3D data at highway speeds over a four hour round-trip journey.
Join me and my colleague Hannu Heinonen on a VMX-2HA surveying tour in the southeastern portion of my home country of Finland.
Hannu and I wanted to demonstrate the capabilities of the RIEGL mobile scanner and software when operating with every feature at full capacity over a fairly long, continuous route. We wanted to show how the system successfully handles large amounts of data. We also wanted to highlight examples of additional applications for the point clouds that will increase the value of the 3D files. Upon completing this exercise we created a demonstration file for our clients in Sweden, Finland and Estonia. Nordic Geo Center Oy supports many private companies who are tasked with designing and constructing new and repaired roadways, as well as public roadway officials who rely on 3D data for their work.
During our 4-hour journey the VMX-2HA system, including the six cameras, was configured to automatically collect at a data acquisition rate of 710 – 735 GB/100 km depending on the speed. If we were collecting laser data only, the acquisition rate would have been 136 GB/100 km at the speed of 120 km/h. It would have been 152 GB/100 km at 100 km/h. If cameras are required, the amount of data grows large and collections are limited to daylight hours only.
The Highway 7 route we mapped is located roughly between E25.06 N60.25 and E27.8 N60.6, an area that travels from Helsinki eastward to the Finland/Russia border. Highway 7 is part of E18, which was called King’s Road during medieval times and remains a main coastal route today. The current E18 is a highway that runs from all the way from Ireland to Russia.
Let’s start the tour with a brief video recorded from inside the vehicle.
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