We seem to live in a world where everyone wants specific details about where we are going, where we have been and, even, at times, where we might go sometime in the future. And while the development of lidar surveying and photogrammetry technologies may have not been intended for the fairly simple navigational purposes that many use them for, these survey and research techniques come in very handy for those purposes.
Lidar surveying and photogrammetry abilities are used for everything from transportation planning and civil engineering services to real estate inquiries and traffic studies. And though these technologies may have their most profitable use with the biggest civil engineering companies in the world, the everyday consumer benefits from the images that are easily accessible.
Although parents may use simple tracking apps on their phone to reassure themselves that their teenage drivers and college age students have safely reached their planned destinations, these same images in a far more complex presentation help civil engineers, city planners, and federal works project managers determine not only the safety of current dams and bridges, but also the plans for repairs and replacement projects.
In a time when automobile manufacturers continue to make progress on implementing digital imaging into the cars that they sell, the technologies that were first designed for far greater purposes help consumers in many aspects of their lives.

Top Engineering Consulting Companies Rely on Images Provided by Lidar Surveying and Photogrammetry Technologies
Whether these surveillance technologies are used to examine the structural design or stability of a current building or the are employed for the purpose of transportation planning, lidar surveying and photogrammetry images impact many industries as well as the general safety of the traveling public. A diverse list of how these technologies are implemented begins to explain the purpose, intent, and future of these imaging services:

• By the year 2020, every major U.S. container port is expected to be handling at twice the volume it was originally designed for. Predicting the implications for these increases depends on accurate digital data and images.
• 33% of of all highway fatalities are related to obsolete road designs, substandard road conditions, or roadside hazards, all issues that can be examined by aerial images that are produced by technology that measures the time it takes for lasers to hit an image and return. the resulting 3D images can locate major problems that need immediate attention.
• 4,095 dams in America are considered unsafe, according to research by the American Society of Civil Engineers. In fact, 33% of all dam failures or almost failures since the year 1874 have happened in the last ten years.
• 25% of bridges in America need significant repairs or are currently handling more traffic than they were originally intended to carry.
• The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that drinking water utility providers will need to invest $334.8 billion over the next 20 years to address deteriorating infrastructure needs. Digital 3D images can help predict the changes that will be the most efficient and productive.

Without the necessary upgrades that are needed to sea ports, highways, dams, bridges, and water utilities, Americans will be increasingly at risk, in spite of their efforts to digitally map out and plan for the places they are going, as well as returning to the places they have been.