Mobile mapping is the process by which geospatial data is collected by using a mobile vehicle equipped with a laser, LiDAR system, radar, photographic device or any other remote sensing devices.
The basic output from mobile mapping technology comprises of digital maps, GIS data, and many critical georeferenced videos & images.
Over the last few years, it has become one of the most popular geospatial technologies in the world, enabling scientists to capture necessary data points and make accurate environmental predictions. At this pace, mobile mapping will outpace all other technologies in the geospatial space and change the way the environment is visualised, measured, catalogued and analysed.
Mobile mapping uses a set of advanced measurement & image capturing tools, and a broad range of mobile transportation systems, which make it incredibly easy for users to record, visualise and understand environments.
Previously, it was incredibly difficult to visualise environments of underwater and underground structures, but now mobile mapping has made this very easy. It’s quick, comprehensive, and accurate.
Mobile Mapping Types & Applications
Based on its principles, mobile mapping can be categorised as indoor based MMS, land-based MMS, or marine-based MMS. It’s used for urban planning, street & road mapping, onshore & offshore mapping, emergency response planning, and designing digital maps of specific locations.
Whenever it’s implemented, the GPS, INS and vehicle wheel sensors help in tracking the positional data about the mapping sensors as well as the vehicle. The target object is surveyed and sensed with the help of navigation sensors like laser rangers, cameras, radar, etc. The spatial information of the target object is taken directly from the georeferenced mapping data. All this might seem complicated, but mobile mapping makes it incredibly easy and hassle-free.
Future Predictions for Mobile Mapping Market
Mobile mapping puts together high-tech scanning & visualisation platforms and innovative software to deliver accurate, fast and comprehensive environmental solutions. Based on the current growth trend and rising demand for mobile mapping across the globe, it’s easy to predict that the mobile mapping market has a solid future.
Government’s continuous focus on the development of smart cities, upgraded mapping representation of geographical locations, and constructing better highways has had a positive effect on the growth of the mobile mapping market.
More and more individuals and organisations are using it to capture location-based information in order to make better-informed business decisions. This report claims that the mobile mapping market that was worth $10.28 billion in 2015 is expected to grow at a CAGR of 20.9% and go past $26.60 billion figure by 2020. The factors backing this claim are rising customer awareness and numerous businesses using location-based services and mapping applications for enhanced productivity.
Companies like Microsoft, Google and Apple are bullish about using more location-based data in their wearable devices for better customer service. This makes it clear that mobile mapping will become a more common and widespread geospatial technology than others in the near future. It’s only a matter of time before others join this list and take the growth rate of mobile mapping market to all new heights.