M AP P ING, GIS & SURV EY ING | Sponsored editorial
MANAGING UTILITIES WITH AERIAL IMAGERY Large-scale utility site and asset monitoring is a challenge faced across the water, electricity, waste, natural gas, and renewable energy sectors.
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he size, complexity, and nuances of utility infrastructure necessitate a multi-data approach to site and infrastructure management. MetroMap’s high-resolution aerial imagery subscription service can solve problems associated with data scale, accuracy, and frequency for utilities.
BALANCING SCALE AND QUALITY OF DATA Aerial imagery balances both scale and quality of data, ideal for the ongoing needs of utility assets and site monitoring. MetroMap’s capture program focuses on habited areas, covering over 8.5 million dwellings and all the associated utility infrastructure that services those locations. Major cities and urban growth centres have a minimum of 2–4 aerial captures per annum, with annual captures of many regional towns. Every MetroMap image capture is available to all account types through a simple layer switching system, giving users years of data to monitor changes over time. That data regularity ensures up-to-date imagery. Aerial imagery can act as your ‘eye in the sky’ to look within your site or infrastructure location and well beyond. Utility infrastructure impacts and gets impacted by the natural and built environment outside its occupied location. The millions of square kilometres covered by MetroMap imagery ensures high-quality data on the surrounding areas for utility companies. MetroMap image quality also lets you monitor everything visible from above, for example; road surface condition, tree and vegetation growth or overhangs, and how nearby infrastructure changes might affect utility operations. REMOTE INSPECTION AND MEASUREMENT Aerial imagery lets site managers inspect assets, monitor the environment, and make accurate measurements without leaving their workstations.
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UTILITY • FEBRUARY 2022
Users can quickly and accurately measure distances, areas, perimeters – all inside the native MetroMap web application. MetroMap’s geospatial accuracy supports measurement through a set of line and polygon tools. The resolution range of MetroMap imagery is between 5–10cm per pixel, and the spatial accuracy is within 2–3 pixels of real-world location, so users can be confident when measuring larger assets with the native tools. Aerial imagery is the most convenient and accessible source of horizontal measurement at scale. Terrestrial scanners or drone surveys give superior fidelity at close to ground level but lack the convenience and scale of the regularly-captured aerial imagery found on MetroMap. Ideally, all those data sources augment each other and provide a robust set of spatial information.
DATA ACCESS OPTIONS MetroMap’s easy-to-use web application gives all users and plan types equal access to the full imagery and measuring tool set. Pro, Team, and Enterprise users have access to georeferenced and highest quality image downloads for the most demanding use cases, with the option to add property & building insights through feature layer add-ons. MetroMap’s API-based access is a popular choice for larger spatial teams, enterprise clients, and more advanced users who want to add imagery into their own data management systems. MetroMap powers multiple large corporate enterprises across the public and private sector, who trust MetroMap’s spatial data to be one of their information streams. LEARN MORE To learn more, start a free trial, or contact the MetroMap team, go to: www.metromap.com.au
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