LiDAR, Aerial, and Satellite Image technologies have tremendously helped to capture field data to enable High Definition 2D and 3D maps creation for various uses in mining, agriculture, engineering construction & infrastructure, insurance, urban/smart city solutions, and oil & gas upstream & midstream areas.

With the advent of drone flying and its field use getting revolutionized due to de-regulation policies, the US, Australia, and several countries have opened whole new applicability for LiDAR (Light, Detection, and Ranging) applications. The LiDAR cameras can now be fitted on drones, UAVs, or crewless aircrafts, and operated remotely to collect field data - aiding disaster planning, smart city layout planning, creating accurate High Definition (HD) maps, etc. Drones are highly effective compared to satellite images, since they can capture higher resolution data and cover remote areas including areas with limited or no human access.

Drones are extensively used in logistics management to deliver medicines and light goods to customers. There is a great need for highly accurate and up-to-date map for planning, monitoring, and logistics management of drones-based delivery system.

Technological advancement in satellite cameras has helped capture high-resolution images of ground up to sub-meter pixel level. Satellite images can cover country-wide capture of ground images in short period. Environmental, forest/vegetation, urban studies, and highway/road infrastructure planning would primarily benefit from these satellite images.

As per Grand View Research (LiDAR Market Share, Growth | Industry Report 2020-2027 (grandviewresearch.com), the global LiDAR market size was valued at USD 1.1 billion in 2019, and is expected to register a CAGR of 13.2% and reach USD 3.7 billion in 2027.

LiDAR/photogrammetry – Technology advantages

I.     LiDAR

• LiDAR is much more efficient and accurate than radar, or a camera vision, thus providing precise, accurate to centimeters, to-scale location of objects to the users. It reduces the margin of error for any action dependent on such technology.
• It is unaffected by harsh weather conditions such as storms, reduced or no lighting conditions, etc., making it more reliable than any other such system.
• The data collected within fraction of seconds reduces response time significantly, especially in cases like AV where time is of critical essence.

II.   Photogrammetry

• The ease and speed of collecting data using UAV drones and satellite imagery make it a preferred mode of collecting data for many users.
• It gives a bigger picture with a broad view of the target area, which includes topographic and cultural features of the land.
• Re-survey makes it easy to collect any missing information in the first run without much loss of time.
• It makes it easier for the users to get accurate information about hard-to-reach or dangerous locations and use drones without the need for any boots-on-the-ground for humans, which also eliminates traffic or road availability restrictions or any danger to human life.

Industry benefits of LiDAR/photogrammetry

The applications of LiDAR/photogrammetry in various industries and associated use cases are:

• Vehicles (especially Automotive Vehicles-AV) have recognized the usage of LiDAR technology far more than any other industry, as it helps to determine precise attributes of obstacles nearby such as its location, direction, speed, size, type, predicted behaviour, etc. using 360° LiDAR Cocoon around the vehicle, based on which the system can take timely evasive action. Adaptive or Dynamic Cruise Control (ACC/DCC) and Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS) are few such features in AV cars that depends largely on LiDAR system.
• Oil & Gas (O&G) segment uses LiDAR technology for O&G exploration purposes by detecting exact locations of O&G deposits before starting the mining process including performing site inspections and detecting pipeline leakages efficiently.
• Mapping services are also performed using long-range LiDAR waves, which can create 3D structure of the entire area, helping in estimating building heights, determining earthquake, flood prone areas, etc.
• The agriculture sector also uses LiDAR to determine soil quality and features, terrain types, etc., to determine the best-suited land for crop cultivation. It also helps agriculture companies to monitor crops and prevent weed attacks.
• There is an increasing demand in other areas such as military and defence, topographical surveys, civil engineering, corridor mapping, interactive shopping experience, measuring and home design, virtual walkthroughs of 3D spaces, analyze the movement of players in various sports, etc.
• Mapping is the most prominent use of Photogrammetry, as UAV, UAS, or satellite images makes it possible to create precise 3D image of the area by combining photos taken from different angles.
• Urban studies and smart city solutions require capturing every building height for 3D city landscape creation.
• Civil engineering firms require road and topographical features in 3D for efficient planning and design of infrastructure.

LiDAR/photogrammetry - The opportunities and challenges

Opportunities

• With the automotive industry moving towards semi and fully automatic vehicles, it becomes imperative that auto companies start to focus on such technologies and build a strong suit to handle increasing automation demands in near future.
• The energy sector such as oil & gas, solar energy, wind energy also see a prospect of benefiting from such technologies in exploration activities, where a lot of time, money, and human effort is wasted in mining in the wrong location before reaching the correct one. Also, inspection and maintenance activities are made more proactive and efficient using LiDAR and Photogrammetry.

Challenges

• LiDAR-based data collection requires highly skilled data collection personnel (such as drone pilots) to collect the data correctly.
• Field data collection is inadequate unless this data is processed accurately. LiDAR data processing skillsets is a must-have for any organization contemplating using LiDAR technology for any purpose.
• It is capital intensive to invest in such technologies as the complete process takes time to become streamlined, right from data collection to data processing and reaching a meaningful output. The organizations tend to look for partnering with experts in this area and opt for engagements that are longer in duration.

Wipro has the required experience, skillset, and infrastructure to handle the above challenges. Our existing delivery infrastructure is built on process and quality systems. Wipro’s GIS Academy (Geo-Spatial Information Systems - Wipro) ensures trained resources with apt capabilities are available for our clients. Our offering is backed with Wipro’s IP AI/ML/Automation tools that’s aimed at continuous improvement and transformative operations to clients besides being cost effective too.

How Wipro can enable organizations to leverage the LiDAR/photogrammetry opportunity

Wipro’s offerings of LiDAR/image processing relevant to various industry use cases are:

• Mining:  Geology and Seismic Study Data Support Services and Field Surveys
• Agriculture: Crop Acreage Reports, Agri Trends and Studies
• Engineering Construction and Infrastructure: Design Studies. Highway Corridor Monitoring, Infrastructure Site Engineering Studies
• Insurance: Underwriting and Claim Processing, Flood, Hurricane & other Disaster Mapping, Property Mapping
• ENU – Upstream: Geophysical, Geological, Seismic and Exploration Studies, Asset Mapping.
• ENU – Midstream: Corridor Data Maintenance
• Urban Mapping: 3D Models, large scale city map preparation for infrastructure planning and property maintenance, City Transportation studies, and improvement

Wipro carries out offshore/nearshore back-office data processing services related to LiDAR, Photogrammetry, Orth photo, 2D & 3D map feature extraction from field probes. Wipro has the requisite skillsets and capability to handle large delivery infrastructure requirements for processing field inputs. Businesses that see potential in such technologies prefer to outsource this human intensive task to IT experts such as Wipro.

Our existing delivery infrastructure, with 8000+ GIS associates and geo spread of 80+ countries has received higher client satisfaction with support of operational efficiency by reducing cost and improving productivity and quality.

We have delivered 30%+ overall delivery benefits through our offshore delivery centers at strategic locations with skilled people and cost-effective approaches. We have also achieved a 99%+ quality score through our effective process excellence and quality management practices.

The data processing related to these technologies requires human judgement and intervention to make it relevant. Wipro can support clients through data bifurcation, processing of such relevant data to prepare precise 3-D imagery by carefully trimming and discarding the irrelevant information from the dataset, and derive business specific key data points broken into timeline-based actions for them.

Wipro has 4+ ongoing years of experience with five global majors by delivering map data services through our large offshore delivery infrastructure. We have the space as well as infrastructure capability to set up a focused business unit at a Wipro campus as per client requirements.

Wipro has also achieved effective work-from-home enablement (>95%) for all its employees. Our key focus is on target-driven delivery that is constantly measured by proven metrics such as SLAs, CSAT, and KPIs. We also employ process improvement measures such as business process optimization, Lean & Six Sigma techniques, gamification based productivity enhancements, and AI / ML / Automations support in project delivery.

We have successfully managed resource cost with optimized efforts as our cost for training and skilling are managed efficiently through our right skilling and train-the-trainer model.

With the governments supporting new technologies by easing the regulations on technologies like drone flying, etc. there is an emerging opportunity for the businesses to reach new business optimization levels with the help of data processing techniques related to LiDAR, Photogrammetry, Orthophoto and 2D & 3D mapping.

Wipro is keen to be a part of your transformation journey and has ready resources with the right skill sets, technology, and infrastructure to assist your success. For more details, connect with us.

Prakash K.J.

Geo Spatial Information System Practice Lead, Knowledge Services - DOP

Prakash is 25+ years experienced GIS (Geographic Information System) professional and leads implementation of GIS best practices and new logo business development in different verticals such as ENU, Telecom, Insurance, Smart city and others. Successfully implemented GIS solutions through Enterprise system implementations, Asset management, ETL projects and Mapping services.

Kunal Jain

Pre-Sales Consultant – Digital Content Practice, Knowledge Services

Kunal supports the Geo Spatial Information Systems (GSIS) practice with Business Growth, GTM plans, solutioning pitches, etc. Kunal has an MBA degree from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi.