The engineering firm uses EagleView aerial imagery across many lines of work to better visualize projects, generate precise scopes, ensure quality, and more.
Background
Pennoni, a multidisciplinary engineering firm, offers clients innovative designs and technology to improve their communities and infrastructure. In this line of work, Pennoni needs highly accurate aerial imagery of project environments to develop informed designs and execute work efficiently.
A Software Developer and Reality Capture Specialist working for Pennoni started an evaluation process to choose an aerial imagery provider that would support the firm’s needs. EagleView offered the highest resolution, image quality, and accuracy. Choosing EagleView has allowed Pennoni to discover efficiencies and impress customers — among dozens of other benefits.
Solution
Pennoni leverages EagleView’s aerial imagery solutions for several use cases:
3D Visualizations
Using EagleView’s web-based imagery viewer, Pennoni presents 3D visualizations to clients. “I can scope out a 3D laser scan project for a client with very complex rooftop features, and I’ll pull up ConnectExplorer to show the different angles. Clients are usually wowed by this. They really like it,” said the software developer. The image quality impresses Pennoni’s customers when they realize they are able to view 3D visualizations with granular detail.
Proposals
The firm also uses EagleView’s oblique imagery for proposal documents. When Pennoni needs to write proposals to do surveys or 3D laser scans over projects, oblique views support their estimates.
Surveying and Civil Engineering Projects
EagleView’s orthomosaic imagery is one of the most useful tools for Pennoni, especially in reality capture work. The team uses it in CAD, whether that’s MicroStation or AutoCAD Civil 3D. One developer wrote software to download EagleView imagery and re-project it into 83 coordinates specifically for civil engineering and survey usage.
“I can download corridors and large areas — re-projecting them extremely accurately so they line up with our engineering projects,” said the developer. “The results we found were honestly astonishing. EagleView has the highest quality imagery, and when it’s converted this way, it’s the most accurate,” he added. Compared to other aerial imagery solutions they evaluated, EagleView provides the firm with unmatched resolution, clarity, and color balance in orthomosaics.
Base Mapping
Pennoni uses EagleView’s aerial imagery to draft base maps. The imagery aligns to survey data within a tenth of a foot or even an inch, and it offers details such as line striping, which is essential for projects such as roadway design.
Quality Assurance and Quality Control
The firm is able to verify and confirm the existence of features in visualizations and ensure surveyors locate items they need to.
Project Review and Scoping
For Pennoni’s work in laser scanning, workers go out to a site to try to estimate the level of effort required to complete a project. With EagleView, the firm uses oblique imagery for reviewing potential challenges to a project and more accurately estimating project scopes.
