Introduction

In today’s fast-evolving road asset management landscape, capturing and analyzing high-quality and accurate data is more crucial than ever. Detekt stands out as a solution that transforms mobile mapping data into actionable insights for municipalities, road authorities, and general contractors. 

When this capability is combined with data captured by Teledyne FLIR’s Ladybug spherical cameras, users unlock a powerful toolkit for enhanced analysis and decision-making. This article will guide you through the process of integrating mobile mapping data captured with Ladybug cameras with Detekt.

Teledyne FLIR’s Advanced Imaging Solutions

Teledyne FLIR is a leader in providing advanced imaging and sensing solutions across a variety of industries, including geospatial, industrial, and government. Their product lineup covers everything from aerial mapping systems to underwater imaging devices. Here, we focus on their spherical imaging systems used in mobile mapping, specifically the Ladybug series, renowned for their high-quality, 360° panoramic imaging capabilities. Below is an overview of key products in Teledyne FLIR’s 360° spherical vision lineup that are relevant to mobile mapping and geospatial analysis:

Ladybug6

The leading high-resolution camera designed to capture 360-degree spherical images with 72 megapixel resolution.

Ladybug5+

This system captures 360-degree images at 30 megapixels, providing excellent resolution and dynamic range.

Ladybug5

Offers a slightly lower resolution than the 5+, but is robust and widely used for city planning and infrastructure management due to its reliability and comprehensive data capture.

Why Combine Ladybug with Detekt?

Known for their precision and versatility, Ladybug cameras are the go-to choice for professionals needing detailed 360° panoramic imaging. These systems capture high-resolution images that provide a detailed view of urban and rural environments.

Detekt leverages this rich data to automatically detect, classify, and assess road signs, road markings, and more, using Artificial Intelligence. Our computer vision models analyze images in combination with image metadata and point cloud data (where available) to give a comprehensive understanding of road health and safety conditions.

Integrating these two technologies means not only capturing the entirety of a road environment in detail, but also efficiently processing this data to extract meaningful insights.

Integrating Ladybug Data into Detekt

Detekt fully supports image data captured with Ladybug cameras to facilitate comprehensive geospatial analysis. Below is a step-by-step description on how to integrate it into Detekt:

1. Data Capture

Start by using a Ladybug camera system to capture your area of interest. Ensure that your settings optimize the capture of high-resolution images and accurate GPS data for comprehensive coverage.

Image orientation information should be provided in a CSV file:

• GPS Time: Timestamp associated with the image
• Positioning: Geographic coordinates (x, y, z)
• Pitch, Yaw, and Roll: These three parameters are important for mapping image detections

Detekt uses point cloud data captured with a LiDAR scanner to measure and accurately locate the image detections. If localization is desired, it is essential that the coordinate system of the point cloud data matches with that of the image positions. Additionally, the point cloud data must be supplied in LAS/LAZ format and include GPS time. 

An additional set of one or two pavement cameras mounted to your mobile mapping vehicle are recommended for enhanced results to detect road damages in image data.

The Detekt team is happy to assist you with these recommended capturing modalities, feel free to reach out to us at any time.

2. Data Upload

Once you have reached out to us, we will provide access to a secure storage where you can upload boththe PGR stream capture files (native Ladybug format) and extracted panoramic images as JPEG, along with the CSV files and optional point cloud data. Detekt is designed to handle large datasets efficiently, ensuring quick data processing.

3. Processing and analysis

Detekt automatically processes the uploaded data, utilizing its computer vision models to detect and assess various elements like road signs, road damages and road markings within 72 hours.

4. Provision of the results

Post-analysis, we will provide you immediate access to your results. You can choose to have all detections exported as georeferenced data in any GIS format (i.e. as shapefiles or geojson files) or examine and verify the results directly in the Detekt Viewer.

Benefits of Integration

Integrating Ladybug’s detailed capture with Detekt provides several benefits that improves geospatial data handling and analysis:

Enhanced Accuracy

The high-resolution imagery data captured by Ladybug systems ensure that every detail of the road environment is recorded with precision. When this data is analyzed by Detekt’s robust computer vision models, it results in highly accurate assessments of road signs, road markings, and road defects.

Time Efficiency

Automating the analysis processes significantly reduces the time required from data collection to actionable insights. Traditional methods that require manual surveys and assessments can take weeks or even months, depending on the project scale. With Ladybug and Detekt, the same processes can be completed in a fraction of the time, allowing for quicker responses to road maintenance needs and planning.

Cost-Effectiveness

By reducing the need for extensive manual labor and automating the data analysis process, the integrated solution of Ladybug and Detekt cuts down operational costs. Municipalities and engineering firms can manage their budgets more effectively, allocating resources to other critical areas of infrastructure improvement and maintenance.

Scalability

Detekt is designed to handle large-scale data efficiently, making it suitable for extensive urban and rural mapping projects. Whether it's a small town or a large metropolitan area, the Ladybug and Detekt combination can scale to meet the needs of the project without a loss in performance or accuracy.

Improved Decision Making

With more accurate and timely data, city planners and maintenance teams can make better-informed decisions. This leads to more effective prioritization of repairs and upgrades, improved traffic management plans, and enhanced public safety measures.