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To plan for climate-resilient transportation solutions in remote and hard-to-reach areas, AnyWay Solutions turned to the UP42 platform.
Most of AnyWay’s work is located in remote areas that are highly vulnerable to climate change, and which usually have very little pre-existing data. In some cases, project sites aren’t accessible by road, and in other cases, political unrest prevents them from getting a team on the ground.
Climate-resilient designs and solutions need to take into consideration multiple factors, all of which depend upon the ability to collect actionable data. The geographic challenges associated with remote areas in developing nations demand unique data acquisition methods and technologies. AnyWay needed a safe method to gather data that was accurate enough to prepare climate-resilient engineering outputs and recommendations for their clients that would take into account local environmental, social, and economic conditions.
Earth observation (EO) imagery was the obvious choice. First, they used free data from Google Earth and government sources. But this data was often very low resolution, and acquisition could be tedious and time-consuming. AnyWay turned to commercial EO data to solve these problems. But here, AnyWay faced another challenge: how to integrate complex data in different formats from a range of providers into their project methodologies and workflows. On top of that, AnyWay had to contend with varying pricing packages, contracts, and terms of use.
AnyWay initiated a search for a platform to access EO tools in a manner that would allow AnyWay to collect data and develop solutions for its clients in developing nations. It was through this search that AnyWay connected with UP42. Their platform, data offerings, and team proved a natural fit. The UP42 platform hosts data from 45+ of the world’s leading providers, from satellite and aerial to elevation and radar data. AnyWay used UP42’s browser-based console to inspect their desired areas in a map view and draw their AOIs (Areas of Interest). AnyWay could then see if archive imagery existed of their AOIs, or if they’d need to task a provider to capture new imagery.
From there, AnyWay could choose their provider based on the type of data and resolution needed, edit parameters such as acceptable levels of cloud cover, and see a price estimate before placing their order.
All data delivered through UP42 is transformed into standardized cloud-native file formats, which removes the complexity of working with different types of data. And files are easy to search, tag, sort, and filter thanks to UP42’s data management capabilities.
"The fact that we can tap into so many products from various vendors allows us to have access to the best fit-for-purpose data for our projects and clients. And the ability to easily navigate all these options is also very cost efficient. UP42’s centralized approach has enabled us to gain access to many more possibilities.”
UP42 allowed AnyWay to easily collect and analyze EO data from a wide range of providers in order to generate actionable plans for their clients in a fast and cost-efficient way, supporting communities and economic growth in even the most remote areas of developing nations.
As an example, a more manual route alignment optimization project in a remote area would normally take years to complete, whereas access to up-to-date high resolution data allowed for completion in a matter of months.
AnyWay Solutions is excited about continuing to work with UP42, and plans to make use of the UP42 ArcGIS Pro Add-in so that they can use data from UP42 directly in ArcGIS Pro.
“The UP42 support team is fantastic in helping us to optimize our deliverables. They’ve been enthusiastic, supportive, and positive." -Keren Moshkoviz, Director of Strategic Planning at AnyWay Solutions
For more than two decades, AnyWay has been a global expert in providing climate-resilient solutions to the global transport infrastructure industry. AnyWay is a member of the Canadian Metrontario Group of Companies, with over 75 years of business experience. Its total commitment to quality is what has fueled AnyWay’s success.