Summarize in two sentences:
With Congressional approval of $17 billion in infrastructure funding, the largest single allocation ever, the scramble to win contracts is about to get red hot and AEC firms are gearing up. In this very competitive game, top engineering firms are relying on their experience, technology, business acumen and ability to execute.
Advances in aerial mapping play a key role in how AEC firms pursue these contracts. Savvy firms have been using this technology for years. Rather than rely on lower resolution satellite imagery or local drone imagery, they use wide-area-coverage aerial maps to clearly display the detail needed to plan and execute.
Over the past decade, maps made using aerial photogrammetry have played an important role in the AEC space. Using high-performance cameras, fleets of planes capture hundreds of square miles per plane per day, provided that the weather is clear. The imagery is processed and made available to engineering companies within days of capture, allowing them to see very clear imagery.
AEC organizations use different forms of aerial maps to evaluate sites, improve their survey designs, and build and maintain infrastructure (roads, highways, bridges, tunnels, overpasses, rail, airports, housing, commercial building development, water resources, parks, pavement and more). Imagine you’re a state or local government that needs to build a bridge, or a developer who wants to contract with an engineering and construction firm to build affordable housing. Why travel to perform time-consuming site evaluations when you can meet with engineering teams in your office and review hundreds of potential sites instantly using current aerial photos that show change over time?
The engineering teams point out elevation changes, the presence and height of vegetation, neighboring communities, bodies of water, ponding and more. They easily navigate from one location to another as you discuss where the entrance to the community could be, how the road network might be configured, and the proximity to retail, schools and healthcare. Within minutes you measure risk, understand the landscape, make decisions, and begin to estimate the project costs. Your teams collaborate, discuss the pros and cons, measure distances and navigate across the terrain virtually.