Local governments soar with aerial imagery and AI
Jun 2021
High quality aerial imagery and insights from artificial intelligence give local governments streamlined technology solutions.
Jun 2021
)
Local, state and federal governments have always led the charge when it comes to innovations in GIS and mapping — and the demand for streamlined solutions has never been more prominent.
These government entities represent some of the most advanced users of technologies from companies like Esri, Autodesk, and Bentley, whose use cases span far and wide, including:
- Address/geocoding database validation
- Stormwater runoff calculation
- Sea level rise infrastructure planning
- City planning
- Emergency management
- Road maintenance
- Bridge and tunnel construction
- Water conservation
- Vegetation management
Simply put, governments use aerial imagery with combined data about their jurisdiction with GIS tools to see what others can’t. In years past, satellite imagery limited what was possible from the comfort and safety of your office chair. But advances in high-resolution aerial maps have now taken centre stage providing more detail than anyone could imagine. This not only makes your day-to-day operations more efficient, but higher resolution imagery means more information — and more information unlocks stronger applications of the imagery, further reducing on-site visits and increasing your return on investment
This powerful blend of mapping and aerial imagery recently took new flight; it’s grown to include the automation of rich feature extraction, using artificial intelligence (AI). Imagine a Developmental Compliance Officer, who wants to quickly see where new buildings have popped up from one capture to the next; or a Design Engineer interested in water runoff when maintaining sewer systems who needs insight into the dimensions of roof tops along with hard surfaces. To do this type of work, government professionals need to visualise these attributes along with meta data about the truth of the ground — and the key? It needs to be up-to-date. Deeper insights result in a deeper analysis and this end game is what Nearmap delivers.
)
High-resolution aerial imagery from Nearmap within ArcGIS Pro, used to identify building footprints which are shown in crisp, red outlines
The real magic happens when government organisations bring this newfound intelligence into powerful commercial technologies such as Esri ArcGIS Pro or Geocortex Essentials. Once that happens, the analytical capabilities jump to a new level, leading to tremendous gains in productivity. Governments can answer questions like where to deploy resources to manage vegetation growth and limit exposure to power outages. They can better plan for future development, allocate funds with dispatch and support resident requests on new development. Often working in concert with civil engineering firms and construction companies, governments now have access to one common operating picture. Each member of the ecosystem visualises the exact same plan — a plan that is current, clear and in vivid colour.
Access one combined perspective, where your eye is drawn to higher concentrations of vegetation, or to lawn grass throughout a landscape, or even identify where concrete and asphalt driveways are longer and wider across a neighbourhood. Our powerful stack of AI attributes also include roof type, swimming pools, water bodies, vegetation overhang, solar panels and more.
)
Clear identification of driveway attributes with Nearmap AI
The power of advanced mapping technology, imagery and AI breathes new life into how local, state and federal planners go about the business of creating smart cities, balancing nature with new construction and making decisions grounded in the richest of data. While many government organisations still allocate significant resources to manual tasks to extract insights, many are now discovering the precision and attribute identification offered through advanced aerial solutions and AI.