The LiDAR and 3D scan market is growing rapidly. Very rapidly. According to Allied Market Research, the global LiDAR market is growing 16.3% CAGR. But with new applications for LiDAR emerging, could LiDAR potentially grow even faster?
In the most recent LiDAR News, Mark Hardy wrote an article titled “3D at Depth: Bringing Laser Scanning to New Depths in the Subsea Oil and Gas Market”. Hardy describes the laser scanning service his firm 3D at Depth has been providing.
Having previously worked in the offshore oil and gas sector, I’m familiar with the scale and complexity of the offshore oil and gas operations. While most people are just familiar with traditional oil rigs on the surface of the water, new technologies have allowed rigs to be built at the bottom of the ocean for improved operations.
Since the equipment is so deep, it’s difficult to inspect during construction and maintenance. Remote controlled robots are sent down to perform tasks. Having accurate 3D models of their subsea plants would greatly help with oil and gas’ expensive operations.
Allied Market Research does not include subsea or oil and gas as market types in their global LiDAR estimation. If either of these market grows, the 16.3% growth rate could be an underestimation. With the recent SPAR conference held in Houston to target oil and gas, these market segments could rapidly grow for 3D scanning.
Of particular note to Civil Maps is the driver listed first under “Global LiDAR Market Dynamics”: Automated processing in LiDAR systems. As Civil Maps continues to build automated processing solutions for 3-D survey data, we hope to help sustain and increase the LiDAR market’s 16.3% global growth rate.