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Introducing Nearmap Near-Infrared
Nov 2023
Nearmap Near Infrared (NIR) imagery provides essential data insights, enabling informed decision-making, resource optimization, and enhanced efficiency.
Nov 2023
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Identifying current issues requires current data. A lack of up-to-date surveys means a higher level of difficulty when trying to accurately analyze ground truth. But even current aerial imagery doesn’t give you all the insights needed. After all, what about the issues beyond the visible spectrum?
Things like vegetation health, soil, plant growth, wetlands, and more require near-infrared imagery (NIR). However, not every aerial imagery provider has both current captures and NIR. This leads to bouncing between imagery feeds from multiple vendors.
That all changes with Nearmap Near Infrared Aerial Imagery (NIR).
NIR is a remote sensing technology that utilizes airborne sensors to capture data in the near-infrared spectrum, and its applications are beneficial for government, utilities, and the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industries.
NIR imagery provides essential data insights, enabling informed decision-making, resource optimization, and enhanced efficiency across multiple sectors.
Near-infrared and beyond
Nearmap NIR imagery will be proactively updated annually, building a robust library for contextual analysis and change detection. Combining NIR with the high-fidelity layers of Nearmap AI unlocks greater location intelligence for an advanced understanding of your areas of interest.
Here are just some of the things you can do with Nearmap NIR:
Detailed analysis and identification
NIR aerial imagery offers visual data in four bands (Red, Green, Blue, and Near Infrared) at a resolution of approximately 30cm. This resolution level allows for more detailed analysis and identification of ground features, vegetation reflectivity, and changes to the built environment.
Advanced multispectral analysis
NIR captures data in four separate spectral bands, including the near-infrared spectrum. This enables advanced analytics such as vegetation health assessment and assists with land use classification.
Rapid change detection
Regular aerial surveys make it easy to track change over time. This supports monitoring and planning activities in dynamic environments.
Seamless platform integration
NIR in GeoTIFF format can seamlessly integrate with GIS, design software, and many other mapping platforms — providing geospatial context to the collected data.
Benefits of near-infrared aerial imagery
Aerial imagery used to be limited by what you can see on the capture. Nearmap NIR uncovers the hidden insights in every image by surfacing insights that used to require manual inspection. This empowers professionals to do more from their desk, eliminating the tedious nature of yesterday’s workflows.
But the benefits of NIR don’t stop there as its insights can enhance decision-making, increase efficiency, improve resource management, and cut the time and costs of project execution.
Enhanced decision making
NIR aerial imagery provides comprehensive and up-to-date data, enabling informed decision-making and reducing uncertainties.
Increased efficiency
With NIR data, organizations can streamline operations and allocate resources more efficiently by doing most of their work from their desktop.
Improved resource management
NIR imagery allows for better management of natural resources, infrastructure assets, and utilities — leading to improved sustainability and reduced environmental impact.
Time and cost savings
The ability to gather detailed aerial information reduces the need for ground surveys and manual data collection. This saves time, labor hours, and organizational resources.
Near-infrared use cases
As previously mentioned, NIR can positively impact government, utilities, and AEC workflows. Here are just some use cases that highlight what’s possible with NIR aerial imagery.
NIR for Government
- City/urban planning. NIR imagery aids in urban planning by offering crucial data for land use maps, as well as identifying potential areas for development or conservation, tree classification, and analysis of pervious versus impervious surfaces.
- Environmental monitoring and planning. NIR imagery helps monitor natural resources, vegetation health, and land degradation, assisting in conservation efforts and sustainable land management.
- Emergency management. NIR imagery provides rapid and accurate assessment of disaster-affected areas, assisting emergency responders in locating affected zones, streamlining response operations, and planning rescue operations.
NIR for Utilities
- Energy infrastructure management. NIR imagery aids utilities in monitoring power lines, identifying trees that are a danger to structures and corridors, locating overgrowth areas for vegetation management strategies, defining growth patterns over time, detecting potential faults, and optimizing maintenance efforts to minimize downtime and improve reliability.
- Water resource management. NIR data helps utilities monitor vegetation health around water bodies and reservoirs, assess access and risk for overland transmission right of ways, and manage water distribution systems efficiently.
NIR for AEC
- Site selection and feasibility studies. NIR aerial imagery supports AEC professionals in selecting optimal construction sites by analyzing terrain, vegetation coverage, and potential environmental constraints.
- Construction progress monitoring. Regular NIR surveys facilitate monitoring of construction sites, enabling project managers to track progress, identify encroachment and compliance in vegetation clearing limits, and optimize resource allocation.
- Infrastructure asset management. NIR imagery aids in the inspection and maintenance of infrastructure assets like roads, bridges, and buildings, both ensuring safety and prolonging their life span.
Nearmap Near Infrared Aerial Imagery provides significant value by adding previously non-visible insights to the built environment for government, utilities, and the AEC industries. Its multi-band imaging, value in analysis, and integration with GIS and mapping platforms create essential understandings for decision-making, resource optimization, risk and safety, and improved efficiency.
Because of this, using NIR aerial imagery can lead to better planning, streamlined operations, and sustainable practices, making it a powerful tool for diverse applications in many sectors.
Learn more about Nearmap Near-Infrared Aerial Imagery (NIR) or get a live demo.