Slagboom & Peeters has contracted with Microsoft’s UltraCam business unit and subsidiary to purchase an UltraCam Eagle digital aerial camera system with an 80mm lens. This transaction marks the company’s second UltraCam Eagle purchase announcement in the last 12 months. Slagboom & Peeters, from its headquarters in the Netherlands, provides aerial mapping and photogrammetric services to customers worldwide. Since 2005, the firm has been operating UltraCam digital cameras and upgrading to new systems as they become available. Slagboom currently owns two UltraCamXp and two UltraCam Eagle sensors.
The UltraCam Eagle features an image footprint larger than the UltraCamXp, but is light weight and takes up less space in the aircraft. The housing concept integrates all components into one unit, which makes installation simpler. The UltraCam Eagle is highly suitable for the large-area mapping that Slagboom does for the public and private sectors.
“We see an increasing demand for jobs with high overlap specifications like 60% sideways and 80% forward,” said Yoeri Slagboom, Owner, Slagboom & Peeters. “Due to its high frame-rate collection capability, the UltraCam Eagle excels at collecting the data for big jobs quickly, which is particularly helpful when we are faced with short flying windows due to poor weather conditions.”
“Microsoft is pleased to provide Slagboom & Peeters with its fourth UltraCam camera,” said Alexander Wiechert, Microsoft Business Director. “Repeat customers are a positive reflection on our commitment to top quality products and expert technical support.”
About the UltraCam Eagle
The UltraCam Eagle features a pan image footprint of 20,010 pixels across the flight strip. In addition to the ultra-large image footprint, the UltraCam Eagle includes enhanced electronics for improved frame rate and less noise (72 dB signal-to-noise ratio for high image dynamic) when compared to previous UltraCam systems, and innovative high-resolution, high-performance lenses and state-of-the art CCD technology (@ 5.2 µm pixel size) for sharp images with a high dynamic range. The UltraCam Eagle is the first multi-cone digital photogrammetric camera to offer an exchangeable lens system with 80mm (standard) and 210mm (tele for high altitude flights) and includes filters with curved characteristics to flatten out vignetting. This digital camera system boasts a new housing concept with everything integrated into a modular sensor head. Compared to previous UltraCam systems, the smaller physical form factor of the UltraCam system requires less aircraft space, weighs less for more efficient aircraft fuel consumption, and is easier and quicker to install.
About Microsoft’s UltraCam Business Unit
With its operations based in Graz, Austria, and sales and support teams in North America, Microsoft’s UltraCam business unit brings more than two decades of photogrammetry expertise to Microsoft’s Bing Maps business unit. The division is responsible for the highly successful line of UltraCam digital aerial mapping systems that include the UltraCamLp, UltraCamXp, UltraCamXp Wide Angle, UltraCam Falcon, and UltraCam Eagle digital photogrammetric sensors. Rounding out the UltraCam offerings is the fully integrated UltraMap workflow software system, with features that include high-density 3D point cloud creation, highly accurate and detailed digital surface model (DSM) generation, and ortho mosaicing capabilities based on automatically generated DSM or DTM.
About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.
About Slagboom & Peeters Aerial Surveys
Slagboom & Peeters Aerial Surveys was founded in 1961 and over the years has evolved into a high-end aerial data acquisition and processing firm. The company provides digital aerial photographs for mapping and orthophoto production. With a fleet of aircraft equipped with UltraCam digital cameras and in-house processing capacity, the company has earned a prominent place in the market in the Netherlands and worldwide. Slagboom & Peeters also offers complete units of turbine aircraft+Eagle camera+crew to fly for fellow data acquisition companies. For additional information please go to www.slagboomenpeeters.com.
