- Airborne 1 has created LIDARDATA.COM as a repository for aerial data worldwide.
- The price of data could be lowered significantly if it were resold to many customers.
- Is there an opportunity to build intelligent 3D models as part of a different service provider model?
I recently read that Airborne 1 has followed up their successful lidar sensor equipment leasing venture by creating an online resource for LiDAR data sales, LIDARDATA.COM. This repository is open to all providers and consumers of LiDAR data worldwide and should create value for all concerned.
Having been involved in the early days with the digital map (the USGS DRGs) data business this kind of announcement gets my entrepreneurial juices flowing. In many ways the 3D laser scanning industry is all about the data. Today many groups who would benefit from the availability of rich 3D data cannot afford to acquire it. In many cases they also would not really know what to do with it once they have it, but that is a somewhat different issue.
An opportunity therefore lies in the possibility of lowering the purchase price by reselling the same data to many buyers. I don’t believe that this is the business model for LIDARDATA.COM, but I suppose if the costs were recovered for the initial data acquisition that the owner of the data would be inclined to lower the price to the subsequent buyers. This assumes that the data acquisition firm retained the rights to resell the data. That’s a lot of “ifs”.
Taking this concept to the next level would be where a firm acquires LiDAR data on speculation. This is where programs like Elevation for the Nation – EFTN, here in the US are needed to act as a catalyst to lower the risk of this kind of venture.
All of this discussion has been focused on aerial LiDAR data. Is there an opportunity to apply the same thinking to terrestrial. It appears that some of the mobile vendors might be thinking this way. Is it possible that this business model could also be used in other markets such as process plant? Perhaps instead of a data play, it could be part of an outsourced, or turnkey facilities management business model. The GIS/remote sensing types are used to working with raw image data. I think it is a lot bigger challenge for the plant operators to go from point cloud to an intelligent facility model.
