Sponsor Spotlight: Ecopia 

By Ecopia | September 24, 2021

3D Nationwide Landcover - A New Geospatial Frontier

The emergence of very high-resolution (VHR) commercial imagery products, both satellite and aerial, has led to an increased demand for high-accuracy derivative data.

Historically, derivative products created at a countrywide scale were produced to a 30-meter, or at best, 10-meter resolution. Ecopia has shifted the paradigm of data extraction by leveraging the power of artificial intelligence (AI) and readily available high-resolution imagery. With access to both VHR aerial and satellite imagery through our network of imagery partners, Ecopia has established a streamlined workflow to produce high-resolution vector data across the globe.

Ecopia recently announced a partnership with Hexagon Geosystems to create a high-precision 3D vector map of the entire United States derived from 6” and 12” resolution stereo aerial imagery. The resulting map, 3D Nationwide Landcover, will offer a highly accurate digital representation of the entire country, and all with the accuracy of a GIS professional. Ecopia’s 3D Nationwide Landcover will be made readily available as an off-the-shelf product, offering highly accurate foundational data for critical decision-making applications including flood modelling & stormwater analysis, insurance risk assessment, and transportation engineering.

How is this Possible?

Ecopia is revolutionizing the way AI is impacting the world of maps and geospatial data. Leveraging our proprietary advanced AI technology, Ecopia mines high-resolution imagery and transforms pixels into geometrically accurate vector maps automatically at country scale. Our feature extraction process captures the 14 land class layers, including heights when applicable, with the precision you expect from a GIS professional, and with automation-level speed, scale, and efficiency. This unique mix of accuracy and scale is what enables Ecopia to offer high precision vector maps at significant cost savings in comparison to current workflows, or market options.

14 Standard Landcover Features
Every building, road, bridge, railway, driveway, sidewalk, parking lot, swimming pool, sports field, paved area, water body, forest, grassland, and bareland.

3 Height Attributed Features
Every Building, Tree and Bridge in the US mapped with unique height-attributed features for unparalleled 3D location intelligence.

The HxGN Content Program offers the largest commercially available source of high-resolution aerial imagery across the US. This imagery will serve as the input data to Ecopia’s artificial intelligence systems, which will rapidly process the imagery and output a highly accurate digital map of the entire country. Further, as the HxGN Content Program imagery is refreshed on a regular schedule, Ecopia will maintain the 3D Nationwide Landcover product - offering timely change detection and updates at a national scale.

“Ecopia’s 3D Nationwide Landcover offers a next-generation digital infrastructure for decision-making applications across the United States,” said Jon Lipinski, Co-Founder & President of Ecopia. “The combination of Hexagon’s high-resolution aerial image content and Ecopia’s proprietary AI affords the unique capability to create a national dataset of unparalleled accuracy.”

“Hexagon is proud to partner with Ecopia to support this high-accuracy national dataset, which will be produced in an unprecedented timeline,” said John Welter, President, Geospatial Content Solutions at Hexagon. “This partnership highlights the strength of the HxGN Content Program in offering large-scale high-resolution aerial imagery of the highest possible positional accuracy and consistency, enabling high-value use cases across industries.”

Ecopia’s 3D Nationwide Landcover will be available for use starting later this year. To learn more, please visit https://www.ecopiatech.com/3d-nationwide-landcover.

Interested in discussing this further or testing some sample data? Reach out to Brandon Palin, Director of Public Sector & International Development.

Email: [email protected]