New Leica CoastalMapper LiDAR sensor significantly speeds up airborne bathymetric mapping

Leica Geosystems, part of Hexagon, announced the launch of the Leica CoastalMapper. Thanks to a wider field of view and the ability to be flown at higher altitudes, the new airborne bathymetric LiDAR solution increases survey efficiency of coastlines and rivers by 250% compared to previous sensor generations.

The CoastalMapper brings a new generation of airborne hydrographic mapping solutions to the industry and offers unmatched performance across a wide variety of mapping applications, from infrastructure resilience to river flood monitoring and environmental investigations in shallow and deep waters.

“We aim to empower our community with tools that meet current needs, anticipate future challenges and push the boundaries of bathymetric mapping," says Anders Ekelund, Vice President of Airborne Bathymetric LiDAR at Leica Geosystems. “We’re beyond pleased to offer our customers this radically enhanced system for more detailed and efficient surveys. Powering easier yet more comprehensive data analysis and supporting a broad range of bathymetric applications, the CoastalMapper opens mapping possibilities that were hard to achieve before.”

Redefining bathymetric efficiency
The CoastMapper combines a new high-performance bathymetric LiDAR module with a Leica TerrainMapper-3 topographic LiDAR and imaging sensor into a compact and lightweight sensor head. The system captures up to one million data points per second with the bathymetric channel and up to two million points per second with the topographic channel, while providing imagery at a 5-centimetre ground sampling distance (GSD) at common flying heights.

Simultaneous collection of bathymetric and topographic LiDAR as well as imaging enables broad data capture in a single flight, which significantly reduces the survey time, operational costs and environmental impact of each mission. Uniquely, the system can be mounted to a helicopter, enabling surveying in complex environments, such as rivers with steep mountainous terrain.

Maximum productivity for flexible applications
The CoastalMapper fully integrates with Leica Geosystems' established and trusted airborne mapping workflows, minimising training time and simplifying operations for existing customers. Thanks to cluster processing capability, users can efficiently analyse large data sets, reducing the time from data collection to deliverable, such as classified point clouds, digital terrain and surface models and imaging products.

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