Noticing Traffic - Not on the Highway

I had no intention of writing today, but while making changes to the site’s design today – those familiar with the blog will recognize significant changes to colors, logos, etc. - I noticed a significant spike in traffic, and it wasn't related to one of the Top 3 Posts. In fact, the increased traffic was for a series of posts written nearly 4 years ago.

On April 24, 2010, a series of storms spawned an EF4 tornado in Yazoo City, MS, a small town approximately 40 miles northwest of Ridgeland, MS - our Mobile LiDAR base of operations. The crew was en route to Florida for a collection and was redirected to document damage.

Last Monday, nearly 4 years to the day, a tornado outbreak once again struck north and central MS – the National Weather Service reported 21 tornado tracks, including another close call in Yazoo City. The map clearly shows Ridgeland in between two lines of tracks. Most of our staff lost power or had minor damage, and thankfully, none were injured.

For more information on the work we performed in 2010:

• Yazoo City: Part 1
• Yazoo City: Part 2
• Yazoo City: Part 3
• Revisiting Yazoo

-Stephen

Picture of the Week

Recently, we completed another rail collect in New England.  The collection encompassed approximately 55 miles of commuter rail corridor and was performed over the span of two nights (midnight to 5 am).

Baker's Mobile LiDAR equipment is installed on a hi-rail vehicle - the same utilized during the Keystone Corridor project.

Cheers!
Stephen

Picture of the Week

The crew is enjoying a trip to the west coast.  This morning was spent at our Carlsbad, CA office of RBF Consulting.

Although we are experiencing more moderate fall weather in central Mississippi, it pales in comparison to southern California.  They might never want to come home.

Have a good weekend!
Stephen

High Traffic and Congested Areas

When proposing the use of Mobile LiDAR technology, oftentimes the discussion revolves around accuracy and cost savings.  Why shouldn't it?  In lean budget times, both public and private organizations are looking to get more “bang for their buck” in terms of project expenditures. 

The corridor along Hampton Boulevard is rich with features.
The classified point cloud and extracted 3D features depict
the level of detail achieved from a Mobile LiDAR survey.

Frequently overlooked however, are the benefits that mobile scanning can provide in terms of efficiency and adherence to schedule in high traffic and congested areas.  Using Mobile LiDAR versus traditional surveying or terrestrial scanning has an immeasurable benefit in terms of safety, and a more tangible benefit in productivity.

In Norfolk, VA, Baker performed a Mobile LiDAR survey of heavily traveled Hampton Boulevard, which runs 2-6 lanes from the VDOT Midtown Tunnel to the largest U.S. Naval Base in the world (Norfolk Naval Station).  The corridor has landscaped medians, center turn lanes, barrier walls, bridges, and underpasses - including the MagLev track at Old Dominion University - Go Monarchs!   In a high traffic environment, Baker staff drove four passes along the 8 mile corridor and finished the entire collection in a day.  Notice the detail in vegetation, signage, utilities, and bare earth along the corridor!

Another seemingly obvious way to collect data along congested areas is by using traffic avoidance.  Baker often performs data collection overnight or on weekends to avoid traffic congestion in urban downtown areas and along high-speed heavy traffic interstate corridors. 

If you have any questions about heavy traffic data collections or anything else LiDAR, please don’t hesitate to contact any member of the Baker LiDAR team!

Best,

Scott 

Scott Howell is a GIT Project Manager in Baker's Virginia Beach office and an alum of ODU.  He has managed several of Baker's Mobile LiDAR projects in the region and continues to develop new opportunities for the team.

Mobile LiDAR User Survey: Closed

The Mobile LiDAR User Survey is now closed. I want to thank everyone who took a few minutes to complete the brief survey. Over the next few days, I'm going to review the responses and provide details in upcoming blog postings.

Danke schön!
Stephen