The Value of LiDAR Technologies to City Planning

In these past months, there has been a significant increase of real estate searches to suburban zip codes. The demand to move to the suburbs is not a new trend but has shown more prominently due to the stay-at-home orders and the desire to work remotely. Over half the metropolitan areas in the U.S. reported higher interest in moving to the suburbs than living in the cities. With this appeal, city planners are in need to strategize their expansion to keep up with the demand. LiDAR surveying technology is the most recommended resource for these projects. 

How LiDAR Applies 
The momentous growth in migration to suburban areas has pointed city planners to search for solutions in expanding their metropolitan areas. This planning requires a thorough layout of the environment surrounding the cities to determine where they can effectively place development sites for new neighborhoods. LiDAR surveying is an efficient technology city planners can use to their advantage for their developing strategy. Analyzing the terrain is a critical portion, and thereby needs clear data to show where and how these expansions can be built. This technology uses laser pulses to collect all-encompassing data points and generate 3-D models to give accurate images of the land the planners are working with. 

Expanding Development 
Developing new neighborhoods once took an overbearing amount of resources to fulfill very little tasks at the beginning of the projects. LiDAR surveying compresses that extending list of resources into one useful technology that is less expensive and administers more results in a shorter time. It does not only give solutions to city planners on where to build but shows all the possibilities of what they can do with the land. At first, it starts with one project, then it leads to a dozen more. One neighborhood can equal a highway, a park, and so much more. This is not an investment in a single development project, it is a step into the future of the city.