GIM International featured the news of Woolpert acquiring AAM, viewable here.
Woolpert has acquired AAM, a global geospatial services company that specializes in aerial mapping, surveying, GIS and the development of innovative geospatial processes and technologies.
AAM is headquartered in Australia and has offices across New Zealand, Asia, Africa and the Middle East. Woolpert is a US-based architecture, engineering, geospatial (AEG) and strategic consulting firm with 44 offices in three countries.
“With AAM, we gain offices across the South Pacific and the Middle East, and almost double our presence in Africa,” Woolpert president and CEO Scott Cattran said. “Combined with our industry leadership in the United States, this merger signifies a major milestone in attaining our vision of becoming the premier global AEG firm.”
Combining cloud-based AI processing capabilities
With this merger, AAM, one of the leading Australasian geospatial firms, will gain access to additional aircraft and sensor technologies to increase its overall aerial acquisition capacity, and will support Woolpert’s growing mapping activities in the Asia-Pacific region. The companies will combine their cloud-based, artificial intelligence processing pipelines for increasingly automated rapid data processing and product delivery. In South Africa, where Woolpert acquired Southern Mapping in 2019 and where AAM has offices, the firms will collaborate on key technologies to improve operational reach and capacity to the African region. This move makes Woolpert one of the largest geospatial companies in Africa.
AAM managing director Scott Ramage said he is elated to be working with like-minded geospatial leaders. “Like Woolpert, we pride ourselves on being able to serve our clients wherever they are around the globe. We are convinced that Woolpert is the right partner for us, and we can’t wait to work with a team who shares our passion and vision for the power of geospatial,” Ramage said. “In 1998, we were one of the first companies in the world to introduce airborne Lidar to our portfolio of services. Now, over 20 years later, we’re developing world-leading, AI-based lidar and image processing solutions to support our geospatial leadership vision.”
Optimizing geospatial data sharing
Woolpert and AAM plan to create additional subscription service products to address spatial digital twins, 3D GIS content, and building information modelling (BIM) integration with GIS and engineering workflows. Both companies have developed tools to optimize data sharing and improve operational efficiencies. These include AAM’s LiDARnetics, which automates aerial mapping workflows, Geocirrus, which supports aggregation of spatial data to help clients make more informed decisions, and Woolpert’s STREAM:RASTER and SmartView, which help clients view and interact with their data.
