LiDAR News talks about 3D stereo visualization in use at Fortsite

Innovative forest management in Canada with PluraView 3D monitor

About: PluraView 3D Monitors from Schneider Digital
KELYN3D is an authorised distributor for the PluraView 3D stereoscopic monitors in the USA and Canada. The PluraView 3D monitor is manufactured in Germany by Schneider Digital as well as powerful professional workstations and 3D controllers.

Customer Q&A with Geoff Lawless, Registered Professional Forester at Forsite.isualization:

Starting as a Photo Interpreter at Forsite in 2016, I began working alongside partner, Object-Raku, utilizing their proprietary individual tree inventory software, TSI (Tree Species Identifier), to develop high-tech forest inventories within British Columbia. Since Object-Raku’s merge with Forsite in summer 2019, we have grown to annually complete individual tree and area-based forest inventories on millions of hectares for forestry, First Nations, and utility clients throughout Canada, the United States, and most recently Europe. The growth of the inventory department within Forsite has been incredible. Growing from essentially myself to over twenty employees, our team now includes data analysts, programmers, software developers, lidar and satellite specialists, and a team of photo interpreters. All fundamentally using and basing their work on data captured using 3D PluraView technology from KELYN3D to drive workflows and ensure the highest quality final deliverables for clients.

Can you provide an inventory of some of the primary 3D surveying and mapping hardware and software that your company currently uses, as well as any other related products? Please include an idea of the timeline of purchases.

Hardware: In addition to the KELYN3D PluraView monitors, the primary 3D surveying and mapping hardware Forsite uses for photo interpretation are Intel Xeon machines with a minimum 32 GB of RAM (you can never have enough RAM!), x64-based processor and 64-bit Windows operating system. Graphics cards are NVIDIA Quadro RTX 4000 or better.

3D PluraView – Passive 3D stereo monitor for geospatial

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What attracted you to KELYN3D and the 3D PluraView monitors? Did you look at other products? Why did you choose KELYN3D and 3D PluraView?

Forsite previously used the NVIDIA 3D software and hardware suite but started looking for alternatives once the software was no longer supported and replacement hardware became difficult to find. We started researching alternatives and based on referrals from both contacts in the industry and our DAT/EM Summit software vendor at Techport Service Ltd., we made the decision that the KELYN3D PluraView setup was the best way forward for our company. We started out by ordering one for myself, and then two more the following year for remote employees. Setup by remote employees was easy and successful with new machines provided by our IT team, and we are budgeting to order more this coming fiscal. KELYN3D were easy to deal with and having a distribution point within North America assured us that shipping times would be short and assistance would be available during our usual work hours.

How are you integrating KELYN3D products into your workflows? What were some of the challenges with that? What were some of the best practices and lessons learned?

KELYN3D products are integrated into nearly every step of our workflow. 3D technology is used by our interpreter team to develop and validate field sampling programs, lidar prediction models, satellite prediction models, and our final deliverables. Perhaps most importantly, PluraView 3D technology is used in the quality assurance steps at each stage of our workflow. The ability to view model attributes and outputs spatially, in any location, within minutes is vital to the success of our business.

The integration of KELYN3D technology in our workflows was seamless in terms of hardware integration, due in part to both the quality of the hardware and our excellent IT team within Forsite. The biggest challenge to overcome was perhaps for the interpreters, as seeing stereo imagery flicker-free on 4k monitors is quite overwhelming at first!

Can you provide a brief overview of two or three of the projects where you made use of KELYN3D and 3D PluraView technology? Can you provide any thoughts on time savings vs. other methods? Any thoughts on return on investment?

In our business, we are often completing tasks that require tree-level precision and expertise. As a photo interpreter, one of our primary tasks is to collect data that will inform, train, and validate the LiDAR models that predict the species, volume, health, height, and other physical characteristics of each individual tree within a project area. Although we made-do with older 3D set-ups, it wasn’t until we swapped to the 3D PluraView technology that we finally had the ‘right tool for the job’.

We have also noted several time and cost savings as well as improved worker quality of life with the KELYN3D technology. Production and moral have been increased through;

• Improved data accuracy, and precision,
• Quicker and more confident decision making by interpreters,
• Reduced eye strain and interpreter fatigue.

What do you see in the future for the use of KELYN3D and 3D PluraView technology on your projects? Are you investigating other advanced technologies that will create new business opportunities?

We are constantly investigating new ways to apply our experience with photo interpretation, LiDAR and satellite analysis, biometric analysis, wildfire, landbase planning, and advanced GIS skills to develop solutions to any problems our clients might have. With so many environmental challenges facing industry and society, I believe that geo-spatial information is the basis of any solutions and KELYN3D PluraView technology will help us into the future.

Forsite Consultants

• Overview: An integrated forest management company known for its expertise in forestry and forest management solutions. The company plays a significant role in forest management and forestry technology in Canada, with a strong focus on innovation and expertise in this field.
• Location: Offices throughout Canada with corporate office based in Salmon Arm, BC.