this week, sim active Start v10 of Correlator3D. A feature-rich, redesigned new version of SimActive’s revolutionary mapping platform.
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The company is also celebrating its 20th anniversary. This is a huge achievement in any industry. DRONELIFE speaks to brothers Philippe and Louis Simard, the visionary team behind the mapping products used by most of the world’s governments, oil and gas conglomerates, and drones of all sizes in his mapping operations. I heard
Philippe and Louis Simard aren’t twins, but they follow each other’s footsteps closely: they both have graduate degrees in computer vision from Magill and study in the same lab. It was in that lab that the Correlator3D platform was first conceived. This is a completely new idea to use computer vision concepts to generate accurate maps quickly and easily.
Louis Simard, CTO SimActive
Louis Simard is SimActive’s Chief Technology Officer responsible for research and development. Louis explains how his brother developed the first product.
“We were really young out of college and starting a company was a dream,” says Lewis. “We developed this technology to get 3D data from images. Everyone does it now, but in 2003 it was really new. I wasn’t even sure there was.”
The two found ways to apply their ideas to solve important problems. It was quick and easy to create maps in the field. By using faster algorithms, we were able to create detailed maps in a fraction of the normal processing time. This was an idea that fulfilled a great need for the Canadian military. In 2003, Canadian military agencies were mapping areas of Afghanistan to support US military operations.
“Using other products [military agencies] It takes months of training and weeks of data processing,” explains Louis.
The brothers were awarded a five-year contract to develop commercial software products with and for agencies. “We didn’t know much about the mapping business,” he admits Louis. “Our first module was on 3D extraction, and the learning curve was quite steep.” Not only did the team have to understand existing mapping processes to identify pain points, Twenty years ago computer hardware and ecosystem tools like storage were far less powerful than they are today. “It was very difficult to get a powerful computer that could handle the data,” says Lewis.
By 2008, SimActive had an easy-to-use consumer product that the Canadian military was happy to purchase. As the industry developed, the customer turned to his SimActive to meet new mapping needs and new applications. “We released new modules each year and addressed them one by one,” he says. “After about seven to 10 years, we really had a complete suite.”
Philippe Simard, CEO SimActive
That step-by-step approach has influenced the development of the company ever since. SimActive’s CEO Philippe Simard said: (“I keep my promises, and Lewis keeps them,” jokes Phillip.) From a customer base made up almost entirely of giant mapping companies that use manned aircraft, the product has expanded to include satellites and drones. has evolved to accommodate data from multiple sources such as That flexibility has allowed SimActive to expand year after year and grow organically on its own.
“In 2003, statistics were strongly against us,” says Philippe. “Only 10 out of 300 startups succeed in his first year, and only 1 out of 300 succeeds in his five years.”
Twenty years later, SimActive has exceeded expectations, and both the product and the company continue to grow. “Now our revenue is almost doubling every year,” he says. “Our products have evolved considerably and we have adapted our business model to serve a variety of clients. We can adapt to almost any need and budget. We also have a strong network of resellers. .”
Montreal-based SimActive now supports remote workers, and Philippe says it’s been a huge success. “We opened our doors to people from all over the world, and this made a big difference in our organization,” he says. “This allows him to support clients almost 24/7, covering all the different time zones.”
Having just celebrated their 20th anniversary, brothers SimActive and Simard are looking forward to their next 20th anniversary.
“Louis and I share the same vision,” says Philippe. “We have fun. We have veteran seniors around us who are very smart and fun to work with.
“We love what we do. We want to keep pushing things forward.”
New Release: Correlator 3D, v.10
“I dress up for my birthday, and that’s what our software does,” says Louis. “We’ve completely redesigned the interface to give our customers the ‘wow’ factor when they launch it.
“The last time I did that was five or six years ago,” he explains. “It’s very difficult to change everything in the interface because we don’t want to confuse traditional users.
Behind the interface, the software has also been redesigned to make it easier and more precise.
“This is an engine that we have been thinking about and developing for several years,” says Lewis. “We are using new technology.”
“We extract a dense point cloud that allows us to see very fine detail. In the final point cloud, we can actually read road signs,” he says. “Computers are also getting better all the time, so we have access to all that power. I have.”
Improvements in hardware and ecosystem tools over the past few years have made new things possible. “Especially from a drone point of view, sensors have evolved considerably, including oblique imaging,” he says. “The new version aims to be able to profit from all this redundant information and produce better results.”
“I think we are setting a new standard for point clouds for our users,” says Louis. “We are miles away from what he started 15 years ago.”
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Miriam McNabb, editor-in-chief of DRONELIFE and CEO of professional drone services marketplace JobForDrones, is a fascinating observer of the emerging drone industry and drone regulatory environment. With her 3,000+ articles focused on the commercial drone space, Miriam is an international speaker and recognized figure in the industry. Miriam has a degree from the University of Chicago and high tech she has over 20 years of experience in sales and marketing new technologies.
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