Lidar News Weekly RECAP – August 4th
Lidar News Weekly RECAP – August 4th
Curated and written by Adam Clark. Adam has spent the past 13 years exploring the world from above by using drones, satellites, and mapping tools to better understand our landscapes.
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AlphaEarth Foundations helps map our planet in unprecedented detail
DeepMind’s new AI, AlphaEarth Foundations, acts like a “virtual satellite” by integrating petabytes of Earth observation data such as optical, radar, elevation, climate, and more into unified, easily processed embeddings. These rich, 64-dimensional representations span every 10 m pixel globally, capturing spatial, temporal, and multispectral context. Made available as an annual dataset in Google Earth Engine, the tool supports rapid, accurate mapping—without preprocessing—for tasks like ecosystem classification, change detection, and agriculture monitoring. Initial users report improved speed, accuracy, and insights in analyzing land use, deforestation, and environmental shifts.
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India Maps Glacial Lakes In Eastern Himalayas To Mitigate Disaster Risks
Researchers at Nagaland University are conducting in depth glacial lake studies in Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh to assess risks of Glacial Lake Outburst Floods (GLOFs). The initiative employs drone mapping and bathymetric surveys to capture the three dimensional shape and depth of lakes like Tenbawa, enabling precise underwater topography mapping. These methods feed into advanced 2D and 3D flood simulations that model potential inundation and breach scenarios. By combining high resolution satellite imagery with these 3D methodologies, the project aims to deliver high accuracy inventories and robust disaster risk models for eastern Himalayan regions.
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TxDOT performs ‘once-in-a-lifetime survey’ in ancient cave
The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) conducted a rare, underground survey of Inner Space Cavern near Georgetown to build a detailed 3D model of the 5.5 miles of the cave’s passages. Surveyors, engineers, environmentalists, and technologists mapped the subterranean network using precision scans, while aligning it with surface coordinates to create a digital twin. Crucially, they deployed a LiDAR equipped, quadruped robot named Dot to scan hard to reach areas. This cutting edge mapping will guide future infrastructure planning, helping preserve the cavern’s natural integrity during any I 35 corridor projects.
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IES has launched a 3D model of Dublin Town, mapping 3,000 buildings on the road to net zero
IES has introduced a publicly accessible 3D Urban Energy Model, a digital twin covering over 3,000 central Dublin buildings, developed for the Dublin Town Business Improvement District. Built using IES’s urban modelling engine, the model integrates live building operational data with physics-based simulations, enabling users to explore current performance, benchmark carbon emissions, and run retrofit scenarios. Presented through live, interactive dashboards, this immersive 3D tool empowers stakeholders in real time to craft evidence-based, carbon reduction strategies aligned with Dublin’s climate goals.
