Lead’Air, Inc. METADUO 3D MAPPING CAMERA

Lead’Air METADUO is a breakthrough aerial mapping camera system which only requires two cameras to collect images suitable for the generation of high resolution and high accuracy 3D photomesh. This disruptive technology will allow Lead’Air METADUO customers to purchase their oblique imagery equipment at a fraction of the cost of other traditional five cameras oblique systems.

In 2003/2004, Lead’Air was the first commercial company to bring a mapping oblique aerial camera system on the market for the purpose of creating 3D city models: Involving five cameras, four obliques (pointing left, right, front, and back at 45 degrees) and a vertical camera, the MIDAS system has been a continuous commercial success for over 15 years and its five cameras configuration has become the standard in oblique camera system design.

Remarkably, in 2021, Lead’Air has established that the same or even better results can be achieved with just two cameras. At the current price of aerial cameras, this represents a saving of more than 60% of the total camera system costs, which amounts to hundreds of thousands of dollars per system, a very significant advantage for all aerial survey operators. Lead’Air is proud to present the METADUO, the first two-cameras aerial survey system designed to collect imagery suitable for the production of 3D city model and to also to replace expensive five cameras oblique systems such as our own MIDAS.

This remarkable result is achieved by utilizing Skyline’s powerful 3D PhotoMesh Software, Phase One outstanding imaging technology and Applanix proven inertial technology. Additionally, by supplementing the METADUO system with a RIEGL LiDAR, the results and quality of the PhotoMesh products become considerably better than what can be achieved with a regular five cameras oblique system.

The advantage of a two-camera oblique system is not only the considerable saving of three additional cameras, but also that the two-camera oblique system is extremely compact significantly saving space; Therefore, the METADUO can be combined with a suitable LiDAR to increase the quality and accuracy of the 3D textured photomesh. Lead’Air has developed a state-of-the-art stabilization system which allows a RIEGL LiDAR and two Phase One medium format oblique camera to be fully stabilized and to operate together as one payload. The RIEGL VQ780 series and other RIEGL LiDAR models can be integrated with the METADUO system to create a superior 3D data collection device. If your LiDAR unit is underutilized or not effectively used, upgrading it to Lead’Air METADUO + LIDAR configuration will allow you to increase its productivity and to take advantage of the fast growing 3D imagery market (insurance, roofing, city planning, emergency response, Internet mappers, etc. and of course the all new promising Metaverse). If you are considering purchasing a new VQ-780 LiDAR from RIEGL, you should consider including the METADUO option which would increase the range of missions that your LiDAR can do.

Although LiDAR data is NOT a requirement for the METADUO to generate high-quality 2D and 3D Products from PhotoMesh™, a LiDAR system can refine and enhance the 3D model, producing cleaner results and preventing artifacts, while increasing the level of accuracy of the complete PhotoMesh™ process. It is clear that other oblique cameras systems which cannot operate with a LiDAR have a significant disadvantage. Please see more details about the improvement brought by LiDAR data below.

“We are proud of this new product which has the potential to radically change the way the imagery intended for 3D photomesh is being collected. Able to deliver great 3D data sets with or without LiDAR data, the METADUO can also optionally be used in conventional nadir mode for traditional mapping and true orthos or in wide coverage oblique mode for ER (Emergency Response) like the DSSV6 camera system we delivered to NOAA last year. There is even an option to operate the METADUO as a four-bands camera/LiDAR system which confers to the METADUO the designation of a true multi-functions system”

JP Barriere, President of Lead’Air Inc.

“We are extremely pleased with the exceptional capabilities and data results of the METADUO in urban mapping applications” said Michael Sitar, Division Manager for Airborne LiDAR Systems at RIEGL USA. “However, the METADUO is all that and more, due to an extensible platform concept capable of more than one application. such as wide-area and corridor mapping. We look forward to supporting Lead Air with LiDAR sensors that add further value to an otherwise fantastic product.”

RIEGL

“Skyline Software Systems’ partnership and collaboration with Lead’Air and RIEGL has pioneered an innovative and unprecedented approach to 3D Data Collection and Processing which significantly reduces costly redundancies in previous system designs while increasing 3D quality and accuracy from PhotoMesh™ 3D Textured Meshes, True-Orthophotos, and additional outputs.”

Eatay Ben Shechter, Vice President Imaging Solutions and Services Skyline Software Systems, Inc.