Cost of entry into Mobile Mapping work is a considerable expense according to Lewis Graham of GeoCue from the ASPRS Hot Topics Session at ILMF 10 in Denver.
- $750 to 900K for the mapping system
- Vehicle $50K
- Production hardware $150K
- Production software $125K (can share some hardware and software if you already have airborne)
Personnel costs include the need for a driver, equipment operator and surveyor on the collection side. On the office side there’s a need for a production manager, geometric correction specialist, and at least two data collection technicians.
Mobile mapping has hit its commercial stride in 2009. As many as 10 different systems were sold last year even in a down economy.
Software is lagging now to exploit the data, but more software and solutions will emerge to speed up the data processing and visualizations of the final product.
