Adding a New Level of Reality Capture to 3D Point Clouds

Global technology company Emesent has announced the release of the colourization functionality for its Hovermap Lidar scanner. The 3D point clouds from Hovermap can now be augmented with true colour, providing additional context for visualization and analysis.

"We’re excited to announce this significant new feature forEmesent," said Emesent's CEO and co-founder Stefan Hrabar. "Colourization provides greater insights for our customers across many industries. This builds on the incredible 3D data that Hovermap produces to create rich, accurate digital twins and surveys.”

The new colourization feature for Hovermap utilizes the latest rugged action camera – the GoPro Hero8. This modular approach extends the versatility and flexibility of Hovermap, allowing customers to attach the camera when colourized scans are needed.

Multiple Devices

As before, Hovermap can be used on a UAV, as a handheld or backpack mounted scanner with the supplied handle or a range of other accessories. When the camera is attached, Hovermap is just as versatile but with the added benefit of providing colourized scans.

扫描和数据处理仍然很容易。悬挂图和相机以按钮的按钮启动，在捕获后，LIDAR和视频数据将通过拖放工作流程处理。对于高级用户，还可以使用各种参数来进一步调整处理和输出选项。

“Combining camera and Lidar data from a moving scanner is actually a very challenging task and requires precise calibration and synchronization between the two sensors,” explains Dr Farid Kendoul, CTO and co-founder of Emesent. “We’ve developed advanced algorithms to handle this complexity, keeping it simple and easy for our customers to use. The results are really amazing to see.”

Side-by-side

除了产生颜色的点云外，该过程还输出了一组图像和图像姿势数据（相对于点云的位置和方向）。这使LIDAR数据和图像可以并排显示为各种第三方工具。

新的颜色功能已经在各个站点的许多用户测试中，产生了令人印象深刻的结果。

"We found the Hovermap colourization option very easy to use and it has generated great results," said Alex Paulusson, CEO of Swedish geodata and remote sensing specialistsAMKVO. "Having the ability to simply attach the camera as needed is a great feature too. This will add a new and valuable dimension to our clients' Hovermap scans."