Spicer Group Presented at CGA 2016

Spicer Group just wrapped up two presentations today at the CGA conference 2016 in Las Vegas.

Spicer Group's Eric Barden presented on GUIDE (Geospatial Utility Infrastructure Data Exchange), along with Bruce Campbell of MISS DIG Systems Inc, and Dirk Dunham of Consumers Energy.  Two sessions were presented on Thursday March 10, 2016.  The presentation was well received, with lots of positive feedback.

New Video for a New Year!

We thought it fitting to start 2016 off with a new mobile mapping video.  It is hard to believe we have been offering this service for 2.5 years, since being the first company to bring the Pegasus Mobile Mapping solution to North America.  It has truly been an amazing ride so far, and the future continues to look bright.  We are continually looking for ways to bring cutting edge technology and new solutions to our valued clients.  We are proving every day that there is no better technology to achieve design grade accuracy at the level of efficiency we are offering with mobile LiDAR.

If you think mobile LiDAR may be a fit for your project, or are even unsure, please reach out to Eric Barden through our "contact us" page and have a discussion about your next project.  We will even provide sample datasets, and deliverables for your team to evaluate.

Here's to a successful year ahead!

Mobile LiDAR From Land and Sea

Here's a recent project we completed along the South Shoreline of Lake Michigan , near Chicago. Our team scanned the park area, adjacent streets, and parking areas from the truck, then mounted the Leica Pegasus Mobile LiDAR system on our marine vessel to scan the waterside features.  Below you can see the seamless matching of the land and water datasets along the rip rap.  From the combined dataset we were able to produce a detailed terrain surface in Civil 3D 2015.  In addition, Affiliated Researchers, LLC completed a multi-beam survey of the lake bottom and will be merging the LiDAR and multi-beam datasets for final data delivery.  Quite a unique project to be a part of.

Better Late....

I've been seriously behind on blog posts.  2014 has been a crazy year of many new opportunities with little time for blogging.  Hopefully I'll be able to keep the blog updated more regularly in 2015 and share details about some of the exciting projects that we have been fortunate enough to be a part of. Below are some graphics from a recent project we completed.  Stay tuned....we have some amazing projects lined up for 2015, like an entire Division 1A University campus, a prominent military installation, several municipal wide asset collection projects and various transportation design projects.

HxGN Live 2014 in Full Effect

HxGN Live 2014 is in full effect.  A great conference so far, with a lot of great stories.  People are doing some amazing things with Hexagon technology.

The exhibit hall opened today and our mobile mapping Tahoe is all setup with the new Pegasus: Two setup. Pegasus: Two was unveiled this morning and consists of a few upgrades from our P1 system.  The core positioning (GPS/IMU) technology is the same superior positioning as our P1 system, however some improvements have been made to the overall shell and general form factor.  We had the opportunity to collect some data on the Las Vegas strip this past Saturday with the new system.  The new platform looks great...especially on our Tahoe!

Almost There...Woot!

Our mobile mapping Tahoe is on it's way to Las Vegas for the HxGN Live 2014 conference, where it will be inside the MGM Grande Conference Hall during next week's conference.

Should be rolling into town today.  Looking forward to a great conference and excited to see the latest in geospatial technology!

HxGN Live

HxGN Live starts in Vegas in one week! Come see Eric Barden and Nathan Shepherd from Spicer Group present on survey grade mobile LiDAR and how it is being used on asset collection projects.  And while you're there come check out our mobile mapping vehicle inside the MGM Grande hotel!

For more details on the conference go here.  www.hxgnlive.com

Another Successful Sub 2cm Design Survey!

When Accuracy Matters:

We just completed another successful sub 2cm design survey on a 6 mile section of 6 lane divided freeway including 3 interchanges.  Crews placed 415 control targets that were precisely digital leveled. 125 of those targets were used for trajectory control and the remaining 290 were independent validation targets.  All 415 targets were within the DOT standard of 2cm (0.06') maximum deviation in X,Y and Z.

Below are some screen shots of the final RGB point cloud that will be used to produce full 3D planimetric mapping deliverables to DOT specifications, including detailed DTM surface modeling.

RGB Point Cloud of One of 3 Interchanges

RGB Point Cloud of One of 3 Interchanges

RGB Point Cloud of One of 3 Interchanges

When you have the most portable survey grade mobile mapping solution...

Well, like the title says.  When you have the most portable survey grade mobile mapping solution in the world, you tend to get requests to survey areas no other system can survey.  A few weeks ago we were scanning 5 miles of a shallow trout stream for a bank stabilization project in Virginia; from our 14 foot Jon boat.  Today, the team is performing an inland lake shoreline survey to support the design of new forcemain on the lake side of a lake in the Detroit area; from our 18 ft boat.  Tomorrow it's back on the truck for an engineering grade design survey of a freeway corridor.  Within the next 2 weeks it's back on the boat to perform bank scanning along a 22 mile river corridor...this is true versatility!

Check out our podcast with Leica Geosystems!

Check out our podcast on mobile mapping with the Leica Pegasus: One, with Leica Geosystems.

Leica Podcast with Spicer Group Inc.

Mobile Mapping Services Video LIVE!

Check out our mobile mapping services video....it just went live.

Here it is on Vimeo and Youtube....Vimeo quality is much better, although both degrade the full HD version.
Hope you enjoy!

Mobile Mapping Services | Spicer Group Inc. (Vimeo)

Mobile Mapping Services | Spicer Group Inc. (Youtube)

Made it to North Carolina!

The team made it through winter storm Hercules yesterday and made it to sunny North Carolina for 50 miles of collect.  Here's a nice mountain backdrop.

Here are a Couple LiDAR Datasets

Here are a couple point cloud flythrough's from our Pegasus: One system.  Vimeo seems to retain the original .avi quality better than youtube. Check out the links below.

https://vimeo.com/81807848

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8H7eJpRKsRg

Spicer Group Is Hiring!

Spicer Group is busy and growing! We are searching for great people to join our team including a: CAD/GIS Technician, Survey Crew Chief, Utilities Project Manager, Transportation Design Engineer, Structural Design Engineer, Construction Engineer, Construction Services Tech, and Qualified Project Managers. For more information:
http://www.spicergroup.com/index.php/resources/careers

Spicer Group's Mobile Mapping Team is Already Putting on the Miles

Spicer Group's mobile mapping team has already completed more than 250 miles of Mobile LiDAR collections!  The team just got back from collecting on I-64 in Richmond Virginia and will be heading out to New Jersey in the coming weeks.  If you are interested in seeing our system in action please get in touch and we will try to schedule a visit the next time the team is in your area.  You can reach me through my Google profile or my email address is on our web page at the following link.  We are excited to show off our system's capabilities so don't hesitate to get in touch!
http://www.spicergroup.com/index.php/the-company/shareholders

Great career opportunities available at Spicer Group!

We are hiring a Design Engineer in our Transportation group, and a Project Manager for our Utilities area.  Click here for more information: http://www.spicergroup.com/index.php/resources/careers

Our restoration project on Traver Creek at Leslie Golf Course in Ann Arbor, MI  is nearly complete.  The stream is now a beautiful feature at the golf course, complete with rock retaining walls, new golf cart bridges, native plantings, and a floodplain ready to capture what the spring rains bring.  If you are in the area, stop by and check it out, or visit our facebook page for more pictures.

Pegasus One Photo Shoot Today

Ready for on or off road scanning!

The Official Press Release

http://www.leica-geosystems.us/en/News_56320.htm?id=4720

New "Straight Lines" published

Read up on some of the projects our employees have been working on.  Articles on Mobile LiDAR, River Restoration, Building Demo, a Rail Trail Connection, and a new Disc Golf Course.  Check it out here:  Spicer Straight Lines

Spicer Group | First North American Leica Mobile Lidar Provider

Our team at Spicer Group is very proud to announce today that we will be the first North American provider of Mobile Mapping/LiDAR services using the latest in Mobile Mapping technology from Leica Geosystems...the Pegasus: One mobile mapping solution which incorporates the Z+F 9012 profiler.

After years of terrestrial static scanning with the latest Leica scanners and our experience over the last 2 years in processing and extraction from mobile LiDAR datasets, our team felt it was the right time to pursue our own mobile mapping solution.

Today begins a new challenge full of new opportunities for our world class Geospatial Services Group.  We have a dedicated team of motivated professionals excited to pursue nationwide mobile mapping services.

Below are a few highlights of our system and what sets our team apart:

• 200 Hz laser created dense LiDAR datasets
• High grade positioning and navigation system coupled with the 2mm precision of the Z+F Laser, produces incredibly accurate datasets.  The most accurate mobile mapping solution available.
• 6 cameras for full 360 degree image coverage
• Direct integration with downstream CAD/extraction packages, specifically TopoDOT with full image integration.
• The Leica software solution runs on ESRI's ArcGIS, allowing direct mapping of assets to be completed in the ESRI ArcGIS environment, building the geodatabase dynamically.
• Entire image and LiDAR datset can be delivered with a free viewer for use at all levels, allowing simple navigation of the LiDAR and imagery as well as horizontal and vertical measurements.
• Entire image and LiDAR dataset can be delivered with the software interface allowing clients to mine the dataset at any point in the future.  Inventory additional assets from the same dataset without ever collecting more data....all in the ESRI ArcGIS environment. (screen capture of interface below)
• Entire system fits in two pelican cases, providing the ability to mobilize anywhere in the world.
• System is extremely portable and able to be mounted on any platform.  A few that we have planned are:
• All Terrain Vehicles
• Survey Crew Trucks
• Hydrographic Survey Boat
• Rental Vehicles

Below are a few screen captures of LiDAR datasets we collected with the Leica Pegasus: One system.

Lidar Dataset Colored by Intensity and Elevation

Lidar Dataset Colored by Intensity and Elevation

Lidar Dataset Colored by Intensity and Elevation

ArcGDS Interface Allowing Asset Mapping Within ArcGIS

ESRI Silver Tier Business Partnership

It's official...or at least the paperwork is official!  Spicer Group is officially an ESRI Silver Tier Business Partner.  We are excited to bring the added value of an ESRI partnership to the table for our clients.

Subscribe or check back soon for some more very BIG! news in the next few days.....

Modeling Bridges from Point Clouds

Here's a couple screen shots of a bridge substructure that we modeled.  The modeling is completed from the geo-referenced point cloud, so as you can see the modeled substructure elements are coordinate correct and overlay precisely with the topographic mapping data for the rest of the project.....which by the way was extracted from a lidar point cloud.  This is the same project data shown in Microstation and Civil 3D.

 (Above) Data shown in Civil 3D

(Above) Data shown in Microstation

Another Lidar and Sonar Flythrough

Here's another video of the same as below.  I've colored the river bottom data in an elevation banding mode making it clearer to see the river bottom data.  We are doing full 3D mapping extraction for all features and DTM breaklines from the point cloud as well.  Once that's wrapped up, I'll share some shots showing the extracted data along with the point cloud data.

Sneak Peak Lidar and Sonar Datasets

Here's the first dataset showing the lidar data merged with the sonar data.  I threw this together quickly....will work on additional editing and visualization options to try and "fine tune" the animation a bit.  In the meantime, enjoy the sneak peak.  (Point cloud was reduced by 80% to be manageable)

Merging Lidar and Sonar Technologies

We are working on a project now that combines terrestrial lidar data with multibeam sonar data of a fairly large river corridor.  This is going to be pretty amazing when we get it all pulled together.  I will share more information in the upcoming days as we get closer to finalizing everything.

3D Feature Mapping From Mobile Lidar Point Clouds

Here's a video of a 7 mile freeway project we recently completed.  Full 3D survey grade feature extraction from a mobile lidar dataset.  6 lanes of barrier divided freeway surveyed without closing lanes or placing surveyors in the roadway. 

Another Flythrough Along I-75

Another flythrough:  Truck Mounted Mobile Lidar Data

Truck Mounted Mobile Lidar Data at Highway Speeds

Here's a video of a 1.5 mile stretch of I-75 Northbound in Detroit.

Topcon IPS-2 HD Accuracy Test

We recently did some testing with the latest Topcon IPS-2 HD mobile lidar system.  We had a section of freeway that we recently completed a mobile lidar project for using a Reigl VMX-250.  Since we had precise survey control in place with many of the painted chevrons still in place, we took the opportunity to test the latest Topcon system under the same conditions as the Reigl system. While we had the Topcon system in possession, we took the opportunity to collect some amazing lidar data on a few other projects as well.  In the upcoming weeks I will share the results from our testing as well as some of the other data we collected.

Large Area Coverage with Terrestrial Lidar

With the release of Leica Geosystems' latest terrestrial scanner, static terrestrial scanning can actually be done in a highly productive manner.  By mounting the Leica P20 on a Yamaha Rhino UTV we were able to do stop and go scanning at a rate not previously possible.  The P20 scans at a rate of 1 Million pts per second....so we were performing full 360 degree scans in less than four minutes at a resolution far exceeding the realm of reasonable for most feature extraction software packages.  The P20 is a game changer in the static terrestrial market......I just cannot wait to go full mobile with one of these...or maybe even two