Norcross, Georgia, USA, 22 June 2012 – Leica Geosystems Inc. today announced that McElhanney Consulting Services Ltd. of Vancouver, B.C., Canada, is investing in another Leica ALS70-HP airborne laser scanner and a Leica RCD30 digital camera. Across its global operations, McElhanney now owns and operates three Leica LiDAR scanners, two Leica RCD30 medium-format cameras, and a Leica RCD105 digital frame camera.
“We have purchased most of our survey and GPS equipment from Leica…and in 2008 bought our first Leica airborne sensor,” said Azadeh Koohzare, McElhanney’s Project Manager. “we like the way these user-friendly systems work and the support we get from Leica.”
McElhanney is an engineering, mapping, surveying and environmental services company based in Canada with a global reach. From its offices in Canada and Indonesia, the company is heavily involved in mining and exploration, energy transmission, and oil & gas projects worldwide. McElhanney flies its LiDAR scanners and digital cameras to projects across Canada, Southeast Asia, South America, Mexico and the United States.
The new Leica ALS70-HP LiDAR and RCD30 camera will be operated from the Vancouver headquarters, where McElhanney already maintains a Leica ALS50 LiDAR and the RCD105 camera. McElhanney Indonesia office in Jakarta currently operates a Leica ALS60 laser scanner and RCD30 camera. Depending on the needs of specific projects, McElhanney often deploys a LiDAR and digital camera together on one aircraft for simultaneous collection of elevation and imagery.
“We selected the HP model of the ALS70 because we are seeing a lot of demand for higher point density and feature extraction with LiDAR,” said Koohzare. “The ALS70-HP provides a high pulse rate that gives us a higher point density in one flight, which saves time and money.”
Koohzare explained the higher point density LiDAR collections have become common for projects involving detailed engineering design work and extraction of features, such as electric transmission lines and towers.
“The ALS70-HP allows users to fly higher and faster without sacrificing point density,” said Jean Gardiner, General Manager of the Leica Geospatial Solutions.
The Leica ALS70 is an affordable airborne laser scanner with a 500 kHz pulse rate capability designed specifically for high-density point collection in diverse environments to serve many type of elevation mapping projects. The Leica ALS70-HP version purchased was developed for general purpose mapping over a wide variety of terrain conditions at different flying altitudes. The ALS70 utilizes full waveform pulses, which allow for better analysis of ground cover and extraction of more meaningful information. This LiDAR sensor offers three user-selected scan patterns that provide the flexibility to meet the specific mapping requirements of different projects.
“The entire family of Leica ALS scanners features plug-and-play compatibility with our medium-format digital camera solutions, such as the RCD30,” said Gardiner.
Introduced by Leica as a digital follow-on to its highly successful RC30 film cameras, the RCD30 is a medium-format digital imaging system developed for a variety of photogrammetric and remote sensing applications. The 60 MP single-camera-head design delivers co-registered, multispectral imagery in the Red, Green, Blue and Near IR portions of the spectrum. The sleek modular design allows the camera to fit easily in aircraft previously outfitted with film cameras, and the RCD30 integrates with many LiDAR sensors, including the Leica ALS series.
McElhanney Consulting Services Ltd.
Founded in 1910, McElhanney specializes in engineering, surveying and mapping in the fields of transportation, structures, land development, drainage, water supply and treatment, sewage treatment and disposal, resource development and land administration. McElhanney has completed projects throughout Canada and in over 70 countries for government, the private sector and international financial institutions.
Leica Geosystems – when it has to be right
With close to 200 years of pioneering solutions to measure the world, Leica Geosystems products and services are trusted by professionals worldwide to help them capture, analyze, and present spatial information. Leica Geosystems is best known for its broad array of products that capture accurately, model quickly, analyze easily, and visualize and present spatial information. Those who use Leica Geosystems products every day trust them for their dependability, the value they deliver, and the superior customer support. Based in Heerbrugg, Switzerland, Leica Geosystems is a global company with tens of thousands of customers supported by more than 3,500 employees in 28 countries and hundreds of partners located in more than 120 countries around the world. Leica Geosystems is part of the Hexagon Group, Sweden.