The Office of the Surveyor General of the Federation (OSGOF) has partnered with the U.S.-based company PLACE to conduct Drone Imagery Acquisition and create a 3D City View of parts of Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory.
Surveyor General Abduganiyu A. Adebomehin announced the initiative during a meeting with the U.S. team in his office, describing it as a groundbreaking project for Africa. The data collected will analyze building footprints, their locations, and road networks.
Adebomehin explained that PLACE’s aerial data boasts a ground sample distance (GSD) of approximately 5 cm, which is significantly better than the 40-50 cm GSD typically found in commercial satellite imagery. He noted that while companies like Google and Apple aim for high-quality satellite data, PLACE’s aerial data offers much higher resolution, making it more effective for determining property boundaries, land use, economic activity, and population distribution.
In addition to aerial data, the firm will also gather anonymized street-level data. “This data is more than sufficient for creating a street map that allows anyone to verify the existence of roads,” Adebomehin added.
While expressing gratitude to the team of technicians, the Surveyor General urged them to work diligently to make this project a reality. He emphasized the importance of exploring ways to empower other organizations and developing a machine learning model to automatically detect road surface types and classifications.
Team leader Frank Pichel expressed optimism that this data acquisition would enhance the delivery of government services and benefit the private sector by improving efficiency and automation. He highlighted that the Drone Imagery Acquisition and 3D City View will unlock vast potential for business opportunities across various sectors of the national economy.
“From monitoring changes to improving and expanding road outlines, the possibilities are endless. The use of data will only be limited by our imagination,” Pichel stressed.
