It started simple enough: a wireless camera mounted on the hook block of a tower crane, allowing the operator in the cab to see the rigger on the ground and the area around the hook. But just a few years later, Netarus’ HoistCam is part of a method to generate point-cloud images of jobsites from the highest perch around.
“We had these cameras up on the hook, and one customer said they were generating 20 gigabytes of images a day. It was filling up the hard drive,” recalls Chris Machut, chief technology officer with Netarus. “We said ‘OK, what can we do with this imagery?’ ”