Road Environment

Construction planning, inventory, maintenance: We supply the data

Our urban infrastructure is constantly changing: buildings are being built or demolished, trees and shrubs are growing or being pruned, environmental influences lead to a constant change of characteristic object parameters. Construction projects can only be carried out efficiently if current and reliable environmental data is available.

For cost reasons, most construction measures today are usually planned on the basis of existing, but unfortunately often outdated data (e.g. land registers). In the rarest of cases, current data is acquired and included in the planning process, although this promises a great deal of added value. The measuring systems from Fraunhofer IPM record urban environmental data easily and cost-effectively. They depict a variety of objects, from buildings to infrastructure such as lanterns, manhole covers or kerbs and even vegetation. Surface structures such as different road surfaces – paving stones, asphalt, etc. – can also be recognized in the measurement data.

Vermessung Straßenumfeld mithilfe von Laserscanner und Kameras
© Fraunhofer IPM
Camera image of a road environment
Vermessung Straßenumfeld: Kolorierte Punktwolke
© Fraunhofer IPM
Colored point cloud of the same scene, where the 3D data from the laser scanner has been augmented by semantic information.
Vermessung Straßenumfeld: semantisch angereicherte Punktwolke
© Fraunhofer IPM
Semantic information on different object classes.

Mobile Urban Mapper MUM


With its Mobile Urban Mapper MUM system platform, Fraunhofer IPM offers the complete integration of several high-end measurement systems into an integrated workflow for the fast acquisition of 2D and 3D data of the environment. MUM is a modular system platform that can be tailored to the respective task. Typically, it comprises the high-end 360° Clearance Profile Scanner CPS with up to 2 million measuring points per second and scan frequencies in the range of 10 to 200 Hz at a distance resolution of 1 mm. An integration and synchronization of several such scanner heads, or other commercial LiDAR sensors, is easily possible. Several high-resolution cameras are used for texturing the point cloud with RGB information. State-of-the-art positioning technology such as DGPS, IMUs and odometers enable precise calculation of position and posture of the mobile platform, thus delivering a consistent, geo-referenced point cloud.

Fully automated data evaluation

In general, the data collected with mobile mapping systems is evaluated manually. With its 3D-AI deep learning framework, Fraunhofer IPM takes a step towards automated data evaluation: The framework provides evaluated image data in the form of previously defined 3D object classes.

Further information

 

Press release / 3.6.2025

Sensor box provides real-time geodata for digital urban planning

A mobile sensor box developed at Fraunhofer IPM collects highly accurate 3D geodata. Mounted on buses, taxis, or garbage trucks, the box allows the urban environment to be recorded at frequent intervals without the need for special measurement vehicles. The captured data provides the data for digital urban twins.

DigiTal twin: Our MUM mini sensor boy on the road in Wuppertal

 

 

 

Since spring 2025, our MUM mini measurement system has been traveling through Wuppertal, collecting data for a digital city twin. The measurements are part of a research collaboration between the city of Wuppertal and Fraunhofer IPM.

 

 

Focus on smart cities

In our 2024/25 annual report, you can find out how a mobile sensor box installed on public transport or commercial vehicles provides geodata for digital urban twins in real time.