Project LARA, “LBS Augmented Reality Assistive System for Utilities Infrastructure Management through Galileo and EGNOS”, kicked – off February the 10th 2015 in Prague, Czech Republic at the premises of the European GNSS Agency. The nine partner international consortium, led by the Cypriot SME GeoImaging Ltd, will develop in the next 24 months a mobile device to assist the utility management professionals on the field. The hand-held, low cost, mobile device will integrate state-of-the-art technologies in the domain of positioning and sensors (GNSS), Augmented Reality (AR), 3D GIS geodatabases. The LARA system will guide utility field workers by helping them ‘see’ beneath the ground, rendering the complexity of the 3D models of the underground grid such as water, gas and electricity.
Θε LARA system will allow utility management companies to know exactly “where is what”, conducting far more accurate interv¬¬entions regarding maintenance of their own underground infrastructure while keeping intact other neighbouring underground grids. Precise intervention will reduce the overall maintenance cost, minimising at the same time economic and social implications of lengthy surface works.
LARA project with an overall budget of 1.282.397,50 € has received funding from the European GNSS Agency under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 641460.