Indoor Data Collection For Improved Airport Operations

Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport

Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (H-JAIA) sees more than 2,700 flights, 53,000 employees and 256,000 passengers every day. As the largest employment center in the state of Georgia and among the busiest airports in the U.S., streamlined management of maintenance, operations and people for the behemoth is of paramount importance and poses consistent challenges.

Since 2017, Michael Baker has partnered with H-JAIA on various data collection projects designed to improve customer experience, passenger wayfinding and navigation, facility planning, architectural design and maintenance operations across the entire airfield.  Continuing the progression of developing H-JAIA’s virtual 3D campus, Michael Baker deployed new stop, look assess and manage (SLAM) wearable LiDAR equipment in 2022, which performed indoor mapping 10-times faster than conventional Static LiDAR deployed in previous years – facilitating the capture of 1.2 -million square feet throughout Concourses B, C, F and T, as well as Domestic Terminal (North and South), International Terminal and all three SkyTrain Stations.

The resulting indoor data, spherical/panoramic imagery and lifelike 3D models rendered from the scanning initiative have been leveraged by H-JAIA’s architecture and design teams and third-party consultants to realize an increased return on investment and accelerated design schedules for H-JAIA. Paired in unison with H-JAIA’s robust 3D geographic information system (GIS) to create the virtual 3D campus, Michael Baker’s innovative LiDARData.net web-viewer provides an immersive 3D experience accessible to all business units throughout the airport.