Blue Marble Teams Up with Pointerra to Provide Cloud-Based LiDAR Data

Pointerra's 3D technology allows users to view massive 3D point clouds at any time, on any device, anywhere in the world and this functionality will be enabled in Global Mapper as an extension for viewing, downloading and publishing LiDAR data.

Blue Marble's GIS software is used by hundreds of thousands of satisfied customers throughout the world who need affordable, user-friendly, yet powerful GIS solutions. Users come from a wide range of industries including software, oil and gas, mining, civil engineering, surveying, and technology companies, as well as government departments and academic institutions.

Global Mapper has established a well-earned reputation as an affordable, easy-to-use, fully-functional alternative to traditional GIS applications. The Global Mapper LiDAR Module is an optional add-on to the software providing numerous advanced point cloud management and analysis tools, including automatic ground point detection and classification; feature extraction; cross-sectional viewing and point editing; significantly faster terrain surface generation; and much more.

Pointerra, a 3D data technology business headquartered in Perth, Western Australia, has built a powerful set of tools for visualizing, managing, and distributing 3D point cloud datasets of any size. This technology provides real-time, on-demand access to point cloud datasets from any location on any device. With the Pointerra Global Mapper extension, users will be able to instantly render dynamic views of 3D data from cloud-based servers regardless of size or geographic extent.

This cloud-based approach to point cloud management and distribution eliminates the need for a local data maintenance infrastructure, saving IT costs and ensuring that the data is quickly and efficiently provided to those who need it. By adopting this technology, companies and organizations can securely share 3D point cloud data with their remote staff, customers, partners, or with the general public. Individual users can also view or purchase curated data sets from Pointerra's catalogs, extracting selections of data when required.

Pointerra's partnership with Blue Marble Geographics allows users of its highly popular Global Mapper product to easily access 3D point cloud data from within the Global Mapper environment. Global Mapper customers will initially be able to see, explore, extract and analyze Pointerra's catalogue of publicly available LiDAR. Customers who have their own point cloud data will also be able to use the Pointerra extension to manage their proprietary datasets and if they wish, monetize the investment in these datasets by making them publicly available through Pointerra's global marketplace for 3D data.

"We are very excited to announce this partnership with Pointerra," stated Blue Marble's President, Patrick Cunningham. "Global Mapper has become a go-to tool for LiDAR processing and analysis. With the Pointerra extension, a key challenge for distributing LiDAR data will be solved for our users."

Ian Olson, Managing Director at Pointerra added, "We are excited to be partnering with a long-established market player like Blue Marble and look forward to working with their technology team to fast-track development of the Pointerra-powered Global Mapper extension ahead of its formal launch in coming months. The relationship with Blue Marble adds to the growing list of leading global geospatial organizations who have recognized the unique elements of our 3D point cloud solution and provides an additional globally recognized distribution channel."

Blue Marble will be showcasing a pre-release version Pointerra extension for Global Mapper at the ILMF conference in Denver from February 13 to 15. Visit Blue Marble at booth 24 for a sneak-peek and look out for the full release in early spring 2017.