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Aerial Surveying
We own and operate multiple aircraft and modern aerial cameras equipped with airborne GPS and IMU systems. We can capture imagery through either digital or analog means. Our digital aerial cameras, the DMC and UltraCamD, are the latest in digital aerial imaging.
Also, as a standalone service or as part of a comprehensive mapping project, we offer high resolution digital scans from aerial photography film.
Aircraft
Piper Navajo | CR N2765V | St. Louis
Piper PA31-310 | N278RC | Charlotte
Cessna 206 | N72471 | St. Louis
Commander 500S | N9UB | Colorado Springs
Camera/Sensor Equipment
DMC Digital Camera | Charlotte
DMC Digital Camera | St. Louis
Vexcel Digital Camera | Colorado Springs
Leica RC-30 Aerial Camera System | Charlotte
Leica RC-30 Aerial Camera System | Colorado Springs
Leica RC-30 Aerial Camera System | St. Louis
Ground-based LIDAR unit | St. Louis
Optech ALTM 2050 LIDAR unit | Colorado Springs
Leica ALS50 LIDAR unit | Colorado Springs
Helicopter Surveying
In the 1990s, helicopter-based aerial photography became a popular alternative to ground surveying. Today, transportation departments across the country routinely use helicopters to map and survey road and highway corridors. Here's why:
Accuracy
Helicopters can fly lower and more slowly than fixed wing aircraft, resulting in more accurate photogrammetric measurements. Whereas FAA regulations require fixed wing aircraft to fly at least 1,000 feet above the highest obstacle, helicopters can fly as low as 300 feet. The helicopter's lower altitude provides greater photographic detail and more accurate measurements of height, area, distance, and volume. Aerial photography captured by helicopter can provide three-dimensional ground coordinates (x, y, z) of roadway and ground features, including pavement edges, road crowns, travel lanes, medians, ramps, bridges, and tops and bottoms of curbs and gutters. Vertical accuracy for helicopter surveying can achieve +/- 0.05 feet, an accuracy level that is critical for road resurfacing and widening projects. Since areas to be surveyed are often within rights-of-way, foliage and vegetation pose no problem, and helicopter photography can be captured successfully year-round.
Safety
Using helicopters, densely populated, high-traffic corridors can be surveyed accurately and safely. Helicopter surveying reduces traffic disruptions and eliminates risks to field surveyors and citizens. As an added benefit, helicopter surveying can replace on-the-ground surveying of cross-sections in high-speed, heavily congested traffic areas, or the mapping of sites contaminated with toxic chemicals.
When it comes to surveying for road and highway mapping projects, helicopter surveying is clearly the best solution.
Sanborn is a reseller of satellite imagery and products representing GeoEye, Digital Globe, and SPOT Image.
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