Central London at 12pts per metre

September 24, 2008 -- Infoterra Ltd, a leader in the provision of geospatial products and services, has extended its leadership in UK lidar data supply with the addition of new high resolution lidar height datasets for eight cities.

This capture is part of the company’s major lidar data refresh programme, using the latest airborne technology, to capture the industry’s highest resolution lidar height data. Already offering data off-the-shelf for over 100 British cities captured at 1 point per metre, Infoterra has now captured data for eight cities - Birmingham, Brighton, Bristol, Leicester, Liverpool, Newcastle, Nottingham and Southampton - at 4 points per metre, with an increased resolution of 8 points per metre for all their central business areas. This level of accuracy and detail, which has not been available until now, will provide urban developers with a very powerful planning and modelling resource.

In addition, Infoterra has acquired data for the central London business area - covering over 200 km2 - at a record 12 points per metre, allowing the capture of precise data of high-density areas with complex building outlines and roof construction details.

Anthony Denniss, Technical Director for Infoterra Ltd added: “We believe in constantly upgrading and updating our lidar resource for customers. Buildings in central cities tend to be more complex in outline and roof construction – and especially the density of buildings in London - so we have invested in a higher level of data collection. The new technology we have deployed – the Optech Gemini system – has enabled us to capture this detailed data in a cost-effective manner which means we will be able to be price competitive in supply.”

“Thanks to our continued investment in state-of-the-art lidar capture technology, Infoterra continues to set the standard for airborne data acquisition. We are finding that when customers need the best quality geospatial data for their projects they are increasingly turning to Infoterra as the default choice,” commented Dave Fox, CEO of Infoterra Ltd. “With the availability of our new lidar datasets - at higher resolutions - we are extending the potential of airborne lidar data, and successfully meeting our customers’ demands for more and more detail.”

Infoterra already holds the largest and most comprehensive UK lidar dataset available off-the-shelf, with the new high resolution city datasets being available in Q4 this year. View some of this new data online at www.infoterra.co.uk/data_air_lidar_example.php

Lidar provides highly accurate elevation data of the ground surface plus structures, including buildings, vegetation and other assets. Lidar derived 3D vectors, including building outline data, are ideal for planning, with specific applications such as detailed urban flooding assessment and 3D city creation for modelling.

About Infoterra Ltd
Infoterra Ltd is a leading provider of geographic information products and services. Its portfolio of geographic information solutions includes airborne and satellite data acquisition, geo-information creation, database management and outsourced hosting. Infoterra provides geospatial knowledge to companies worldwide to help them make informed decisions. The company has major customers in government, insurance, engineering, utilities, defence and oil, gas & mineral exploration.

Infoterra Ltd. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Astrium, Europe's leading space systems and services specialist. Infoterra Ltd is part of the Infoterra Group, which also comprises companies in France, Germany, Hungary and Spain.