The
remote sensing industry continues to change rapidly. While no one can predict the certain future of
the market, we can make educated guesses about the trends that may occur.
Influenced by issues such as technological
innovation, applications development, government legislation and a less than
ideal economy; the remote sensing industry continues to make leaps and bounds
from where it was just five years ago.
The critical need for improved data interoperability across a wide range
of applications as well as a continued proliferation in the volume of remote
sensing data globally, is leading the industry down a path of improved efficiency
and better applications development.
Over the
next three to five years, the earth will be mapped more than anyone could have
imagined at the end of the last century.
Contributing factors such as an increase in satellites with a multitude
of resolutions and an influx of new digital aircraft sensors, thermal sensors,
video cameras, and LiDAR systems will allow for easier access to data from
regions all across the planet. The
number of points for an area within a given data set will be greater than ever
before.
As end
users become more educated in regards to the power and potential of LiDAR data;
the resolution will improve significantly as a result of a demand for a higher
quality product. The internal tools for
handling this increased volume of data – processing software, storage and
improved network solutions – will become faster, increasingly efficient and
more affordable. All of this will allow
remote sensing firms to provide a better overall level of customer service and
allow their customers to extract more value from the LiDAR data.
As new technologies
continue to come to market, we will see decreased lead times, better data sets
and an ability to handle larger scale projects without some of the headaches
many in the industry know all too well.
The
future of the LiDAR industry will include new developments in the sensor
systems. Ultimately this will generate
new data sets unlike any available today.
Reductions in prices and size of the sensor units themselves will make
them more widely available to firms who are priced out of participating
today. The days of $1.5 to $2 million
for a sensor are already coming to an end.
The improved technology in sensors will create a cheaper, more
accessible solution for commercial firms and end users.
The main
challenge will initially be the processing and content extraction from the
higher resolution data sets. The
ever-present lag in development of processing software compared to LiDAR
hardware will continue at least in the near future. Closing this gap will be fueled by the
increased demand from our customers.
End user
knowledge will continue to increase. From increased insight in to the multiple
uses of the product will come a demand for better software that is designed to
effectively allow for some processing or manipulation of their data ‘in house.’ The vertical market will push for and result
in more functional software applications for the remote sensing community.
Traditional
barriers to growth have been cost of hardware/software, shortage of experienced
analysts and cost of data. As the
number of end users increases exponentially over the next five years, many of
these barriers will be eliminated.
Overall industry improvements will enable the data to be used as a
viable and more effective substitute to many of the more traditional methods.
While
evolving in to a new creature, the future of our industry is looking more
positive and secure in every way.
Increased acceptance and understanding of remote sensing technology will
most likely double, if not triple, the number of users in this decade
alone. More government interest in large
area collections for states and even nationwide scopes will keep us all busy
for the foreseeable future. Continued
population growth in the 
