Aussie mapping technology set to take on Google

By Stuart Corner
Wednesday, 04 November 2009 14:25

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Perth based Ipernica (ASX: IPR) is poised to launch a new media company based around high resolution digitised terrain maps, that it says will compete with Google Maps and with Microsoft Bing.

The service will be delivered by Ipernica subsidiary NearMap using aerial mapping technology developed by NearMap, a company acquired by Ipernica in 2008 .

Unlike Google, which uses satellite imagery, NearMap's imagery is generated from aircraft mounted cameras. It provides both a top down view and oblique views from all four cardinal compass points and a digital terrain map (heights of individual points).

A  key advantage is claimed to be currency and frequency of updates - NearMap has been flying Australia's five largest cities monthly and says this regular updating will enable users to see changes over time, such as the construction of new roads, and erosion of coastal zones.

Significantly it claims to be able to carry out its surveys and to process and serve the results at much less cost and much quicker than competing alternatives. It says that to fly and map the whole of Australia would cost about $100m compared to $1 billion with traditional aerial mapping technologies.

Ipernica managing director, Graham Griffith, told iTWire: "As a new media company we see a large blue sky opportunity to build a web presence. In that space, Google is a major player and so is Microsoft with Bing, so they would be our major competitors. We don't intend to compete with specialist aerial survey companies that do smaller areas."

According to Griffith the key to NearMap is its proprietary aerial photographing and image processing technology. Its image capture equipment fits in a pod that attaches to popular single engined Cesna 210 aircraft. This equipment takes vertical and oblique views from north, south east and west. This data (generated at the rate of 1Gbyte per second) is then processed on NearMap's super computers and served via its web portal.

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