Yotta brings Hollywood technology to Tyneside

13 November 2008, 10:35am

North Tyneside Council is using some innovative technology to automatically map the areas roads, signs, traffic lights and other assets bordering the highway. The automatic inventory survey performed by Yotta, the 3D mapping division of OMG plc (Oxford Metrics Group [LSE: OMG]), will capture North Tyneside’s entire 900km road network using unique vehicle-based high-resolution digital photography. Based on technology used in the medical world and for movie Hollywood animations, the video data is processed automatically and extracted using special software and imported directly into the Council’s asset management system.

The survey is a significant step forward for North Tyneside and supports the development of its Transport Asset Management Plan. It will provide accurate details of the Council’s entire road network, including the length and width of roads and paths as well as the number and condition of specific inventory such as gullies and road signs.

“We have not performed a full inventory survey on our entire network before and this is a cost-effective method to get the job done. The Yotta survey expedites the collection of essential data to deliver a clear and precise view of our all our assets. The survey provides highly accurate information together with a high-resolution video record that we can revisit whenever we need additional data,” says Mark Newlands, Assistant Engineering Services Manager, North Tyneside Council.

Newlands also says that the video makes it easier to demonstrate what the Council’s Engineering Services department is doing to Cabinet Members and stakeholders.

“The video footage enables us to show precisely what we are working on to interested parties. Because it is a visual technique it gives a ‘wow factor’ to our work and clearly demonstrates that North Tyneside readily adopts innovative technology to support its programmes,” concludes Newlands.

Yotta performed the survey using its specially designed and developed Y270 vehicle that is equipped with six high-definition cameras. The cameras take an image every 2 metres as the vehicle drives along, with the precise position (less than 1m) of each image calculated by combining GPS, Inertial and Optical tracking systems with advanced algorithms. These images are processed by Yotta's proprietary software which analyses them pixel-by-pixel to give a highly accurate position and detailed information of each inventory item seen by the cameras on the survey.

www.yotta.tv
Enquiries to David Lowe, Yotta, +44 (0)845 45 96882
david.lowe@yotta.tv

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