The “What” and the “Why”: The Geospatial Journey of 3 Regular Guys
Gene Roe, Founder of Lidar News speaks with Brian Leiser, Owner/Principal, Redefined Horizons Surveying Inc. and his two partners about the challenges of developing a new surveying business from scratch with integrity and cutting edge technology. Let the geospatial journey begin.
Can you please provide a brief overview of your professional background (s) and experience, particularly with 3D laser scanning/drone lidar technology, and/or a brief history of the growth of the company and its use of 3D technology?
We had a problem…
Me and my two business-partners-to-be, Landon Blake and Dani Cano, had a combined 45 years of experience in the surveying and mapping industry. We had all worked for a range of Northern-California civil engineering / surveying firms. We had learned much, but we were deeply disturbed by the poor business values, resistance to new ideas and technology, and the pervasive “old-boys network” that is all-too common in the industry.
Why was it so tough to find simple honesty and integrity in business relationships?
We had only one clear choice: Build the company that we could not find. Our bedrock values would be professional integrity, embracing new ways to provide value to our customers, and providing employment opportunity to talented people who were eager to learn and grow with us.
As a result, Redefined Horizons Surveying was born. We are now in our 5th year of operation with 12-people strong!
Technology is in our DNA. We had cut our teeth on lidar in the late 2000’s with the original Leica Scanstations, and grown-up with the dawn of the UAV mapping era. When miniaturized lidar scanners that could be deployed on a UAV appeared on the scene, we were in love!
Can you provide an inventory of some of the primary 3D surveying and mapping hardware and software that your company currently uses, as well as any other related products?
Standard surveying and mapping tools form the core, the “ground floor” of our technology stack, of course. Solid, time-tested surveying practices are inherent in everything we do.
We fully embrace and celebrate the availability of advanced hardware and software that has democratized the acquisition and processing of data. More people with advanced skills are a good thing for the industry and society, right?
However, it also encourages the “easy button” mindset. We are left shaking our heads at the general lack of the most basic understanding of geodesy and positioning science by service providers (even within the surveying community!), and why it is important. One of the jobs of a surveyor is to provide certainty in an uncertain world.
It’s a scary landscape out there for people and organizations seeking that certainty!
So, we always build a project from the foundation, up. The underpinnings have to be solid, or we are not fulfilling our promises to our customers and partners. We start with GNSS and terrestrial data processed in Trimble Business Center, utilizing properly adjusted minimally- and fully-constrained primary control networks. Our aerial gear features systems from Skydio, Autel, and Inspired Flight Technologies. We deploy payloads from Sony and AgroWing for RGB and multispectral capture, and the impressive Phoenix Lidar MiniRanger (featuring the world-class Riegl MiniVUX).
All of this wonderful aerial data is processed through a suite of software including SimActive Correlator 3D and Phoenix Spatial Explorer. Mobile device and 360 camera scanning and photogrammetry packages by Polycam and CupixVista enhance our field acquisition with rich reality data capture. We also leverage a variety of open-source software to enhance our deliverables, such as CloudCompare and QGIS.
On the occasion when we need something a bit more customized to help us automate tasks, we have Python code-slinging capability right here in-house.
What attracted you to the use of Phoenix Lidar hardware and software? Why did you choose Phoenix?
We had 6 years of experience with RIEGL scanning products and Phoenix Lidar integrations. We are hands-on processors of the data we capture; we don’t do “easy buttons”. We understand each step of the process and keep our hands on the controls, from trajectory processing to final classification and segmentation.
The RIEGL RiProcess processing software is powerful, and we have invested many months deep-diving into the inner workings of the software and the MiniVUX-UAV scanner.
Phoenix Lidar took that all to another level with their integration of the Air NavBox and excellent Spatial Explorer postprocessing suite. All of the nut-and-bolts control is there for us, down to the settings stored on the scanner firmware, with superior ease of use and an intuitive user interface.
When it came time for us to make a purchase, Phoenix came through for us in a way that, quite frankly, surprised us. We cannot say enough good things about Rob Dannenberg and the entire Phoenix Lidar crew with how well we were treated.
We are a young company with 12 people. Let’s face it, we are small potatoes, and we know it. There are many vendors that wouldn’t give us the time of day. Phoenix Lidar flipped that script and made us feel right at home, with a genuine way of doing business based on trust and respect (just the way we like it!). They worked with us to help overcome the challenges that a small company faces.
We won’t look anywhere else, we are Phoenix Lidar customers for life!
For more information on Redefined Horizons CLICK HERE.
For more information on Phoenix Lidar CLICK HERE.
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