Blom CGR France, Blom’s subsidiary in France, has signed a contract with IGN, the French National Geographic and Forestry Information Institute, for an airborne LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) survey and production of flood models in the south of France. This is a huge project for IGN and will cover all areas at risk from flooding. Blom’s data acquisition will start imminently and the project will be completed within one year.

Blom is proud to have been awarded this contract after a very demanding European tender process. “This contract is the third recent collaboration between Blom and IGN, proving IGN's belief in Blom's experience and commitment to deliver” commented Didier Mendel, Managing Director of Blom CGR France.

Flooding is a natural disaster that seems to be increasing in both occurrence and its impact on us. Each flood can put at risk homes, infrastructure and more importantly, lives. Last year areas in France saw devastating floods that were the worst since 1827. It is reassuring that flooding and its consequences now can be monitored, and the water flow can be predicted. Airborne LiDAR technology provides altitude data with an accuracy that can reach up to 10 cm on bare soil, providing an effective and low cost method to use when surveys of large geographical areas are required. These factors result in LiDAR being the best technology to use for flood risk mapping.

Producing flood models of areas at risk of flooding is part of an ambitious governmental project for improving the altimetric data base (RGE Alti) of the whole of France during the period 2010-2013.

“This strategic contract award has been achieved as a result of Blom’s unique skills base and a wealth of experience within LiDAR technology, which has given us a leading position in this market.”, comments Giovanni Banchini, CEO of Blom CGR.

Blom is able to provide a complete airborne solution, combining laser scanning with aerial imagery. The laser scanner gathers accurate data for terrain modelling while the digital camera provides imagery for quality control of the LiDAR point cloud. The imagery is also used to produce orthophotos over the area, providing IGN with a compelling solution to aide their flood mapping campaign.

About BLOM

Blom is a leading European service provider within acquisition, processing and modelling of geographic information. Blom maintains unique European databases with collections of map, images and models. With particular focus on online services, Blom provides data and solutions to customers in government, enterprise and consumer markets and enables partners to create applications using Blom’s databases, location based services and navigation solution. Blom has more than 900 employees and offices in 16 countries. The company headquarter is located in Oslo, Norway. Blom is listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange (ticker BLO). For more information, visit www.blomasa.com

IGN

IGN’s key missions are to produce, maintain and disseminate reference geographic and forest information in France. Heir to a long line of cartographers, IGN has been involved in all cartography-related operations in France and its territories, since 1940. For more information, visit http://www.ign.fr.