Spotscale is working with the best RC pilots in the world to create 3D models using hexacopters
3D modeling in Sweden is extremely hot right now, with startups such as Volumental innovating within the space.
We talked to another company entering this arena, Spotscale and one of its founders, Ludvig Emgård.
Spotscale is a company based in Linköping, founded by Ludvig Emgård and Jonas Lindqvist. They started out back in January 2013, by developing products to build hyper-local 3D models of buildings, blocks and surroundings captured using hexacopters. Through extensive experience of 3D mapping and multi-rotor helicopters – the company have already managed to land 15 customers using their products.
In August, they were granted money from Vinova to further develop their product. I had a chat with Ludvig about what they are doing.
The team consists of 7 people and has strong ties to to aerospace and computer vision technology companies in Linköping. The team have spent a lot of time developing algorithms and methods to ensure a unique 3D experience.
We are currently working with some of the best RC pilots in the world. A big challenge has been to find the customer groups where 3D maps can actually make a difference to their daily lives. We have 15 customers today using our products and we are working together on finding and defining new use cases.
The idea behind the product came into Ludvigs mind when he saw multi-rotor helicopters getting more and more stable. After that, it was kind of natural to start the company and dive into the possibilities.
The challenges so far is to actually find RC pilots that are skilled enough for our unique data capture missions and also to tailor general computer vision and 3D reconstruction technologies to our specific set of sensor data and to deliver a product ready for experience on different devices. We are building a global collector network of skilled remote control pilots, rolling out in similar fashion as former street view initiatives.
Ludvig’s vision on how to move forward is clear, they need more development resources to further expand their R&D.
We have already a number of prototype products coming out of our 3D process that will be publicly available soon on a number of devices. On the business side our new products brings other possibilities within the resort marketing market and luxury real estate sales which are exciting markets for us.
We found most traction in the real estate, luxury resorts, city planning and visual effects markets where we focus our products. Also gaming, emergency response and cultural heritage markets have shown quite some interest.
Read the entire article here