TopoSys GmbH

TopoSys GmbH

TopoSys GmbH is a cutting-edge company operating in the field of Airborne Laser Scanning and Aerial Surveys with its headquarters in Biberach an der Riß - Germany.

TopoSys GmbH was founded in 1995 as a spin-off company from Dornier GmbH , and went on being the first Worldwide company offering civilian laser-scanner systems based on fibre optics technology (TopoSys GmbH Website).

The company

TopoSys GmbH was a division of Dornier GmbH, a globally acclaimed leading company operating in both air and spacecraft domains. In this Dornier GmbH unit, leading-edge research within the LIDAR field for military surveying applications as well as for air and land military vehicles orientation was highly active. In 1995 TopoSys GmbH emerged as a spin-off company of Dornier GmbH with the objective of offering LIDAR services for civilian applications. TopoSys GmbH was also the first company ever to develop LIDAR systems based on fibre optics technology for such purposes (Lohr, 1999).

Main Products

TopoSys GmbH develops several LIDAR Sensor Systems, Line Scanner Cameras as well as Laser and Imagery Data Processing Software solutions. TopoSys GmbH is as well a Laser Scanning and Aerial Surveying services provider (Wiechert, 2004).

Laser-Scanners

TopoSys GmbH became the first and only company to develop an Airborne Laser-Scanner system based on fibre optics technology, the laser-scanner Falcon series (Lohr 1996, 1998).

The first Falcon I equipment saw the day's light for the first time in mid-1996, and in the Spring of 2000, the Falcon II equipment was released.

At the present moment, the Falcon II equipment is the World’s only fibre optic laser-scanner, which means that the laser pulses are transmitted and received by two separate lines of glass fibres. The individual beam directions are firmly aligned due to a mechanical solid orientation of the fibres (Lohr 2003; Maltamo 2005).

Line Scanners

TopoSys GmbH is also involved in the development of high-end medium-format Line Scanner Cameras.

Software

TopoSys GmbH is also involved in Laser and RGB/NIR Imagery Data Processing software.

Bibliographical References

* Lohr, U. (1996). "Pushbroom Laserscanning - First operation results." Geo-Informations-Systeme 9(4): 12-15.

* Lohr, U. (1998). "Digital elevation models by laser scanning." The Photogrammetric record 16(91): 105-109.

* Lohr, U. (1999). "Traces data collection with the TopoSys Laser Scanner ." Geo-Informations-Systeme 12(2): 3-5.

* Lohr, U. (2003). Precision LIDAR Data and True-Ortho Images. Map Asia Conference 2003: Photogrammetry and LIDAR.

* Maltamo, M. (2005). "Identifying and quantifying structural characteristics of heterogeneous boreal forests using laser scanner data." Forest ecology and management 216(1-3): 41-50.

* Wiechert, A. (2004). "LiDAR data market still growing: TopoSys GmbH." GIM international 18(8): 54-55.

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