The compact, flexible mobile mapping solution allows the firm to serve a national client base, with a focus on both engineering-grade surveys and municipal asset inventory and management.
Norcross, GA, OCTOBER 7, 2013 – Leica Geosystems Inc. today announced that Spicer Group Inc., based in Saginaw, Mich., is the first professional engineering, land surveying and planning services firm in North America to purchase the Pegasus:One mobile mapping solution. One of the largest surveying firms in Michigan, Spicer Group handles contracts for the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) as well as numerous municipalities in Michigan. With the acquisition of the Pegasus:One mobile mapping solution, the firm will expand to serve a national client base, with a focus on both engineering-grade surveys and municipal asset inventory and management.
“MDOT has adopted LiDAR for projects where safety is a major concern,” said Eric S. Barden, PS, Geospatial Lead and Partner at Spicer Group Inc. “We saw mobile mapping as a logical next step to continue our strong relationship with the DOT as well as to secure additional projects.”
Spicer Group has been providing laser scanning services since 2008, when the company purchased a Leica HDS3000. The firm also uses a Leica ScanStation P20 for scanning highways, bridges, industrial plants and confined spaces. A year ago, Spicer Group began investing in mobile mapping capabilities by acquiring new software and by training staff to allow the firm to process mobile mapping datasets. The firm also began evaluating mobile mapping systems on a one-mile-long test project, but no system met its rigorous standards—until the firm tested the Leica Pegasus:One mobile mapping solution in September 2013. The compact, highly flexible system allows service providers to use select terrestrial laser scanners in profiler mode for mobile mapping.
“The Pegasus:One offers several distinct advantages over other systems,” Barden said. “Precision is one factor – we purchased our system with a Z+F 9012 profiler, which will give us full 360 degree coverage at 2 mm with low noise. Additionally, the flexibility to mount the system on any vehicle platform is essential. We can put it on a boat to scan bridge substructures while performing hydrographic surveys, on an ATV to scan off-road utility infrastructure, or on a vehicle to map roadways. And the ability to hop on a plane with the system in two compact cases and then land, rent a vehicle and go to work is very attractive.”
The Leica Pegasus:One solution provides a plug-and-play hardware solution, including cameras and LiDAR sensors, enabled by a complete software solution, including data acquisition, calibration, post-processing, viewing, editing and storage modules. The system provides an easy process for object capture and referencing into a common Esri GIS-based platform.
Barden said the ability to access Esri ArcGIS desktop through the Pegasus:One software gives Spicer Group a unique advantage compared to other mobile mapping service providers. Rather than just providing shapefiles as deliverables, the company can scan a network of roads or assets and still provide requested shapefile deliverables, but also give clients the actual dataset, which the clients can then use on their own interface within the Esri platform.
“There’s a big push to scan it once and use it many times,” said Barden. “If a municipality needs to inventory a certain asset, we can scan the entire road network with the Pegasus:One and deliver that asset, but then we can also deliver the dataset and the interface that allows them to pull other assets they might need at any point in the future without doing another collect. It’s a huge advantage.”
Bradley Adams, PE, Manager – Mobile Mapping for Leica Geosystems, said versatility is a key benefit of the new solution. “The Pegasus:One is a transformational mobile mapping solution that combines the best of imagery with a traditional terrestrial laser scanner to allow high-quality data acquisition at roadway speeds with the accuracy of design surveys and the throughput of asset management,” he said. “We’re very excited to partner with the Spicer Group for successful implementation of this innovative technology.”
For more information about Leica Geosystems mobile mapping solutions, visit http://www.leica-geosystems.us/en/Mobile-Mapping_103549.htm.
Spicer Group, Inc. (www.spicergroup.com)
Spicer Group, Inc. is a Michigan-based firm providing stronger, safer and smarter solutions in the professional engineering, surveying and community planning markets. Clients include local, county, state and federal governments, municipalities, private organizations, educational institutions and industrial entities. Founded in 1944, the company now has a staff of more than 140 employees.
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