Customer Stories

IN-HOUSE MOBILE MAPPING To be more independent and to have more control over the imagery, the city of Amsterdam decided in 2016 to acquire an in-house mobile mapping system. After extensive market research, they chose the Trimble MX7 Mobile Mapping Imaging System, making Amsterdam the first worldwide user of the system. Amsterdam selected the MX7 because it provided a single integrated system that was easy to mount on a car; it could also be used on water, critical for the elaborately canaled city. They also wanted an open system so third-party vendors as well as single viewers could access the imagery. TRANSFORMING THE WAY THE WORLD WORKS When mobile mapping solutions were introduced in the year 2000, the city of Amsterdam saw many uses for the 360-degree geo-referenced images. Mobile mapping gave a better view of the state of the built environment than aerial imagery by providing a different angle and higher detail. The city initially outsourced the imaging, which resulted in high costs and limited usage and update possibilities. To eliminate these issues, they purchased their own mobile mapping system. overview Location AMSTERDAM PROVIDING VALUE FOR TAXPAYERS Prior to purchasing the in-house system, the Dutch Cadaster commissioned a contractor to collect nation- wide street level imagery. Amsterdam would license part of that material for its own use. Over time, the city became dissatisfied with the contractor´s working methods. "To me, it seemed exploitive to grow a business by making governmental agencies use tax money to pay for the same product over and over again. Paying for the data collection with tax money is one thing, but doing the same for each separate use is simply too much," said Ries Visser, Senior Advisor, Basic Information at the city of Amsterdam. Using a contractor for the imagery also meant abiding by strict terms of use, as well as limited flexibility in choosing when the data was captured. "We´d receive a timeslot for the coming two months from the contractor. If the weather was bad during that time, it would show on the street level imagery, diminishing its usability," Visser said. The city wanted more flexibility. TRANSFORMING THE WAY THE WORLD WORKS

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