Sidewalks & Walkways Survey with Mobile Lidar

CHALLENGE

One of the biggest challenges to urban data collection projects such as this one is that typical mobile collection equipment is limited to the roadways. Urban areas often have locations that restrict the use of motor vehicles, such as parks and pedestrian malls. Mobile data collection vehicles may be able to reach the perimeter of these areas, but can’t reliably collect the entire area.
In this situation, alternative choices include manual rating or the use of a stationary scanner. Neither of these options proved to be an acceptable alternative for this project. Manual rating is incredibly time-consuming and is not reliably accurate for safety standards. Meanwhile, a stationary scanner is not ideal for covering such a large area, as it must be moved repeatedly.

MAVERICK SOLUTION

The Maverick, a portable and powerful spatial data collection system, was installed on a Segway for the survey of the capitol building and the Monona Terrace. One of the biggest benefits of Maverick is its portability, which allows it to be mounted on various platforms to suit the needs of each project. The Segway mount proved invaluable for mobile data collection in an area where motorized vehicles are restricted.
The collection process took one engineer approximately three hours to complete, including setting up the Maverick on a Segway, collecting the sidewalks around the Wisconsin State Capitol building and Monona Terrace, and detaching the Maverick and mount.

RESULTS

The data emerging from Maverick was run through the Maverick’s included Distillery software to prepare the data for use with a variety of third-party viewing, post-processing, or reduction software.
Specialized processing software was used to identify assets and review the sidewalks for ADA safety compliance. Then, areas were marked where the sidewalk needed improvement in order to comply with the ADA.