At this year's Geo conference, Revolution Geosystems was easy to find. For the first time, the company had a larger booth presence, a reflection of how much the business has grown since its early days as an aerial aircraft provider.
"Every year it's just a wonderful opportunity to connect with clients and see how the industry is changing," Lisa McConnell, VP of Marketing and Sales, said. "This year is especially exciting for us."
That excitement has a name: Revolution Geosystems. Though, longtime industry followers may know the company by its former name - Revolution Flight. The rebrand signals something bigger than a name change. It marks a strategic expansion in what the company can offer.
At its core, Revolution Geosystems is a service provider in the aerial survey space. The company doesn't make maps, but its clients do. Instead, Revolution Geosystems provides the infrastructure to make those maps possible: a fleet of over 50 aircraft, including Cessna Caravans and the recently acquired Cessna 206s, all outfitted with camera ports and high-end sensors like the Riegl VQ-1560 double-i.
"We're helping clients gather the data to make those maps," McConnell explained. "Sometimes they come to us for an aircraft and a pilot. Sometimes they want to rent a sensor. Sometimes they want both."
The rental model, only about two years old, has quickly become a cornerstone of the business. Aerial survey equipment is expensive, and even well-established firms can hit capacity constraints - unable to bid on new projects because their gear is already deployed. Revolution Geosystems steps in as a flexible resource.
"Our rental model allows them to come and get another aircraft or another sensor so they can bid on that next project," McConnell said. "We want to remove the obstacles from our clients in terms of having the equipment and the tools to get their jobs done."
That includes equipment failures in the field. If a sensor needs maintenance mid-project, Revolution can supply a replacement rather than forcing a client to tell their customer the flights are grounded.
Alongside its rental and aircraft services, the company also operates AerialSurvey.com. The site is a global online marketplace for buying and selling pre-owned aerial survey equipment - a nod toward accessibility in a notoriously capital-intensive field.
"Maybe they're a smaller business and brand new isn't in the budget," McConnell noted. "But they can get into something that's three or four years old that still works perfectly, at a price point that makes more sense for their economic situation."
The addition of the smaller Cessna 206 fleet reflects another layer of that philosophy. Strategically placed at regional airfields across the country, these aircraft give clients a more economical option for smaller jobs, without sacrificing capability when a larger, longer-range aircraft is needed.
"We essentially expanded our product line to provide more flexibility to our clients," McConnell said.
As the conference buzz continued around us, McConnell summed it up simply: "We're excited to see Geo Week grow, and to grow along with it."
