Maintaining and understanding our physical infrastructure is more critical than ever. However, infrastructure operators often face significant challenges in scaling the impact and benefits of remote sensing technological advancements. Traditional methods, like costly and time-consuming field dispatch, remain prevalent due to difficulties in capturing, analyzing, and maintaining up-to-date site visits. These challenges are compounded by inconsistent approaches and varying tech stacks, making it hard to achieve an evergreen understanding of infrastructure. To address these hurdles, we're announcing a new category of imagery datasets called Imagery Insights. The first new dataset derives insights from Street View imagery and is designed to streamline operations, improve workflows, and enable smarter decision-making.
Harness the power of global imagery with Imagery Insights
Customers want to access more insights from our up-to-date, comprehensive geospatial data, so they can make more informed business and sustainability decisions. That’s why for the first time, we’re integrating new Google Maps Platform datasets, along with Earth Engine datasets and capabilities, directly into BigQuery, to make it easier for data analysts and decision makers to access insights.
The first dataset made available within Imagery Insights gives you access to insights from Google Street View's vast repository of over 280 billion images, covering the world's infrastructure in 360° and 3D. This rich dataset, spanning every continent and 100+ countries, allows you to extract actionable insights, eliminating the need for costly and time-consuming field surveys. Imagery Insights integrates seamlessly with BigQuery for advanced spatial analysis and connects to Vertex AI, enabling you to automate asset identification and condition assessments for more efficient infrastructure management.
Street View image of a stop sign that is analyzed and categorized using Vertex AI
Bentley Systems
Bentley, in collaboration with Google Cloud, is transforming roadway maintenance by leveraging AI powered by Google Street View imagery from Imagery Insights with Bentley's Blyncsy analytics. This allows transportation agencies to move from reactive to proactive maintenance by anticipating infrastructure issues before they become critical, offering solutions for historical road analysis, rapid disaster damage assessment, precise asset mapping, and proactive pavement management, ultimately leading to cost savings and enhanced safety and sustainability of road networks.
Google Street View capture before Palisades fire and Blyncsy.AI capture afterwards
Streamlining urban planning
A city planning committee needs to budget for road sign repairs. Traditionally, this would mean sending out crews for costly field inspections, a process prone to errors and delays. With Imagery Insights, they can simply query BigQuery, visualize all road signs on a map, and use Vertex AI to instantly identify damaged signs. Imagine a map of your city, with highlighted road signs, and AI generated damage reports overlaid on each sign. This translates to a precise budget estimate and faster, more targeted repairs. For example, instead of guessing which 20% of signs need replacing, and sending teams to inspect all of them, the committee could pinpoint the exact signs, and get a cost estimate, all from a computer.
Traffic cone location and condition visualized on a map in Salt Lake City
The future of infrastructure management
Imagery Insights using Street View is just the beginning. Our vision is to provide a comprehensive portfolio of imagery datasets and tools, empowering cities and infrastructure operators to make more informed decisions. Delayed infrastructure maintenance doesn't just cost money; it can cost lives. By empowering operators with accurate, timely data, we're building safer, more efficient, and more sustainable cities.
Get started
Ready to get started? Fill out this form and we will reach out to you to learn more about your use case and how Imagery Insights can help you. We look forward to seeing how Imagery Insights helps you streamline your operations, improve workflows, and make smarter decisions.
