Toronto - Optech announced the sale of an integrated airborne surveying and mapping system to Aerial Surveys International of Watkins, Colo. The system includes an Optech Orion M300 ALTM pre-configured for an Optech medium-format aerial digital camera.

"Our business model has always been as an acquisition-only service firm to the geospatial industry, so we needed a system that would be adept at low-altitude corridor mapping with strong above-ground object sensitivity, superior multiple-return vegetation penetration and high signal-to-noise ratios. With the Orion M300 we get high-quality data feature collection, great multiple-return vertical point density as a product of the small 0.7-m pulse separation, and excellent low-reflectance surface detection-but the laser is still powerful enough for us to perform high-altitude wide area mapping from our current fixed-wing aircraft without modifications, and more efficiently than anyone else in the industry. The Orion M300 provides the clients we service with exceptional shot-to-shot data precision and accuracy that is evident in the quality of Optech's timing electronics and industry-leading laser technology," said Mark Shubert and Ron Macke, co-owners of Aerial Surveys International. "We are really excited about the position this acquisition puts us in. We will have the ability to economically provide best-of-class of LiDAR and concurrent imagery data to a broad range of clients with myriad applications."

Maxime Elbaz, president of Optech, is also enthusiastic. "We're very pleased to have our LiDAR-camera systems used for such a range of applications. Our approach of tightly integrating the Orion M300, a compact LiDAR mapper, with Optech’s medium format camera in a single multi-station mount will enable Aerial Surveys International to develop the right system to establish themselves as the leading strategic business partner to the geospatial industry, in a challenging business environment."