Mike Childs

Global Mapper Guru-Senior Software Developer

Blue Marble Geographics

About the Speaker

Mike Childs is the original developer of Global Mapper and has been dubbed the 'Guru' of the renowned software. Childs, an accomplished GIS software developer, works with Blue Marble Geographics to deliver users geospatial technology with cutting-edge features that span industries. Throughout his career, Mike has experienced the power of user-driven software development, which has become a vital part of Blue Marble Geographics' practices as a geospatial software development company.

Matchmaking Information

Attending

Digital Twins & Geospatial Platforms

One Ground Truth: Aligning Multi-Source Geospatial Data

ExpoStages
ExpoStages
München / Germany
Wednesday, Sep 16, 2026
12:10 PM - 12:30 PM | Europe/Berlin
B5 | Main Stage | B5L033

Speaker's Sessions (1)

Exhibitor event
Digital Twins & Geospatial Platforms
Wednesday, Sep 16, 2026
12:10 PM - 12:30 PM | Europe/Berlin
Vortrag // Presentation
B5 | Main Stage | B5L033
English

One Ground Truth: Aligning Multi-Source Geospatial Data

ExpoStages

München, Germany
Digital twins, BIM-GIS integration, and modern reality capture workflows all depend on one foundational requirement: geospatial alignment. Yet in practice, lidar, photogrammetry, orthoimagery, and elevation data are often created from varying acquisition methods and coordinate reference systems, introducing misalignment that impacts accuracy, analysis, and downstream decision-making. This presentation demonstrates how geodetically inconsistent datasets can compromise the reliability of a digital twin, even when the underlying data itself is high quality. Using a real-world multi-source dataset consisting of terrestrial lidar, drone-derived photogrammetric point clouds, orthoimagery, and elevation models, attendees will see how coordinate inconsistencies create visible and measurable errors across both 2D and 3D environments. Using the latest version of Global Mapper and the integrated GeoCalc engine, the session walks through how disparate datasets can be transformed into a unified geospatial framework with consistent horizontal and vertical reference systems. Attendees will also see how new capabilities, including automated point cloud analysis and enhanced reality capture workflows, support more scalable, accurate, and operationally efficient geospatial processing. The result is a more accurate, trustworthy, and operationally useful product, along with a practical understanding of why geodetic integrity remains foundational to modern geospatial workflows.
LiDAR
Photogrammetrie / Fernerkundung // Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing
Laserscanning und LiDAR // Laser Scanning and LiDAR
Digitale Zwillinge // Digital Twins
Speaker (1)
Mike Childs
Global Mapper Guru-Senior Software Developer, Blue Marble Geographics
Moderator (1)