Super camera sends Getmapping skyhigh
Hartley Wintney based aerial photography business Getmapping is expanding with the help of a £670,000 finance package from Santander Corporate Commercial.
The company was founded by Tristam Cary in 1998 after he recognised the potential for a privately-owned photographic survey of an entire country that could then be made available to interested parties at affordable prices. As such, Getmapping pioneered the concept of using aerial photography to create the most comprehensive and detailed aerial photographic survey of the UK, called the Millennium Map.
Getmapping was also the first company to take advantage of the internet to deliver images and services. This has enabled thousands of architects, engineers, developers and surveyors to access detailed digital data, and the company is now the UK’s leading supplier of aerial photography, mapping products and data hosting solutions.
The funding will enable the company to purchase a new Vexcel aerial camera and software. The new equipment will help the company to expand by enabling it to take on new, bigger contracts, including a multi-million pound project to take aerial photographs of Scotland over a four year period.
The camera, a Vexcel UltraCam with a frame size of 20,000 pixels (substantially more than an average digital photograph) and an image rate of 3.7 gigabits per second, will enable the company to produce superior quality images.
Paul Taylor-Toms, Finance Director for Getmapping, said: “We are delighted to have secured the funding for this new camera. We are passionate about the photography we do, and this will enable us to produce even better images and get even more detailed data about the country around us. Ever since we realised we could produce this imagery for a wide and varied audience we have been looking for ways to improve our services and products, and this new purchase will see us take our offering to the next level.”
Richard Sollis, Relationship Director for Santander Corporate Commercial, said: “We are thrilled to have supported Paul and his team with this new purchase. It’s great to be able to work with such a landmark and innovative local business and to be able to support them to expand and grow. We look forward to working with Getmapping more closely in the future.”
