Global trends in the mapping industry during the pandemic

Photo: SimActive

By Philippe Simard, Ph.D.
President, SimActive Inc.

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought uncertainties to all businesses, and the mapping industry has been no exception.

Slowdowns were observed during the first few months of 2020 as lockdowns were gradually enforced in Asia, then Europe, and finally the Americas.

As expected, projects were delayed during that initial period as companies were reorganizing their operations to allow for remote work.

Once that transition was overcome, a great number of projects resumed, and the geospatial field has been gradually coming back to normal since then. That can be explained by different factors, including, for example, several governments accelerating infrastructure projects to stimulate the economy.

A lot of mapping firms have turned the pandemic into an opportunity to improve their processes. Slower times allow reviewing production workflows and assessing bottlenecks. Once identified, new hardware and software solutions can be evaluated to optimize production.

Interestingly, the resulting investments into new solutions has been significant. Companies are seeing a quick payoff as their workload is rapidly accelerating, leading to an increase in their bottom line.

Overall, the mapping industry was able to rapidly adjust to the new reality caused by the pandemic. The changes that are being made in performing projects not only allow us to minimize risks in the short term, but also to increase profitability in the longer term.

SimActive is the developer of Correlator3D software, a patented end-to-end photogrammetry solution for the generation of high-quality geospatial data from satellite and aerial imagery, including drones. Correlator3D performs aerial triangulation (AT) and produces dense digital surface models (DSM), digital terrain models (DTM), point clouds, orthomosaics, 3D models and vectorized 3D features.

Powered by GPU technology and multi-core CPUs, Correlator3D ensures high processing speed to support rapid production of large datasets.

SimActive has been selling Correlator3D to leading mapping firms and government organizations around the world, offering cutting-edge photogrammetry software backed by exceptional customer support.