Competitive Landscape — LAIRA App¶
The call center sells the LAIRA app. The competitive landscape for the app is different from the competitive landscape for the Rig. The Rig competes with Fugro ARAN, Cyvl, RoadBotics, and PaVision — those are NOT the app's competitors. The app competes with the following five products + workflows. Know them cold.
1. Polycam¶
| Dimension | Polycam | LAIRA app |
|---|---|---|
| Positioning | Mobile 3D scanning for "everyone" | Professional infrastructure-condition inspection |
| Pricing | Free; Pro at $14.99/mo or $79.99/yr; Team at $25/seat/mo | Free; Pro at $29/mo or $288/yr; Team at $49/seat/mo |
| Compliance output | None | Standards-mapped (D6433, PROWAG, MUTCD, ICAO, EN family) |
| ArcGIS feature service | No | Yes, native, customer-tenant |
| Distress classification | Manual mesh annotation | Automated detection + classification |
| Audit chain | None | Every output cites the standard it implements |
| Buyer | Hobbyists, prosumers, real-estate, design / AR | Field engineers, inspectors, AEC pros |
How to win: "Polycam is a great 3D scanner. It is not an inspection tool. If your job is to produce a record that withstands an audit against ASTM D6433 or PROWAG, Polycam cannot do that. LAIRA can, and is priced to be bought on the same expense report."
2. Scaniverse¶
| Dimension | Scaniverse | LAIRA app |
|---|---|---|
| Positioning | Free consumer LiDAR scanning (owned by Niantic) | Professional infrastructure-condition inspection |
| Pricing | Free | Free tier + paid plans |
| Compliance output | None | Standards-mapped |
| Enterprise features | None | SSO, audit log, team library, MDM |
| Buyer | Consumers, hobbyists | Field engineers, inspectors |
How to win: Same shape as Polycam. Scaniverse is a free consumer scanner with no compliance, no enterprise features, no audit chain. The prospect either values that audit chain or they don't. If they don't, they were never your customer.
3. Fieldwire¶
| Dimension | Fieldwire | LAIRA app |
|---|---|---|
| Positioning | Construction punch list + drawing markup | Pavement / ROW / accessibility condition inspection |
| Pricing | Pro at $29/user/mo, Business at $49/user/mo, Premier at $89/user/mo | Pro at $29/mo, Team at $49/seat/mo |
| Workflow | Issue tracking, plans, photos, RFIs | LiDAR scan → distress detection → compliance output |
| Compliance output | None | D6433, PROWAG, MUTCD, ICAO, EN family |
| Buyer | General contractors, project engineers | Field engineers, inspectors |
How to win: "Fieldwire is great for managing a job site. It does not turn a sidewalk into a PROWAG-compliant record. We complement Fieldwire; we don't replace it. If you're a project engineer on a sidewalk-replacement job, you'd use both — Fieldwire for the punch list, LAIRA for the condition data."
4. Bluebeam Revu¶
| Dimension | Bluebeam Revu | LAIRA app |
|---|---|---|
| Positioning | PDF markup + collaboration for AEC | LiDAR-based field capture + compliance |
| Pricing | Basics $260/yr, Core $330/yr, Complete $400/yr | Pro $288/yr |
| Workflow | Desktop PDF markup; cloud-collaboration tier | Mobile scan capture → cloud output |
| Compliance output | None | Standards-mapped |
| Buyer | AEC professionals doing plan review and markup | Field inspectors capturing condition data |
How to win: "Bluebeam is the standard for PDF markup and document collaboration. It is not a field-capture tool. LAIRA produces the data; Bluebeam can be the place you mark it up. Different stages of the same workflow."
5. DroneDeploy¶
| Dimension | DroneDeploy | LAIRA app |
|---|---|---|
| Positioning | Aerial drone reality capture + analytics | Ground-based mobile + vehicle-mounted capture |
| Pricing | Site Engineer plan ~$329/mo, Business ~$449/mo, Enterprise sales-led | Pro $29/mo, Team $49/seat/mo, Rig sales-led |
| Workflow | Drone-based; requires Part 107 pilot; weather + airspace constraints | Walk or drive; no airspace; no weather hard-stops |
| Compliance output | Volumetrics, progress photos, terrain models | D6433, PROWAG, MUTCD, ICAO, EN family + ArcGIS native |
| Buyer | Construction sites, mining, agriculture | Field engineers, inspectors, accessibility consultants |
How to win: "DroneDeploy is excellent for aerial reality capture. It is not a substitute for ground-based pavement, sidewalk, or curb-ramp inspection — drones can't get close enough, often can't fly (airspace, weather), and don't produce compliance-mapped outputs. LAIRA is ground-truth for the surfaces inspectors actually walk."
The honest "where we lose" map¶
There are buyers where LAIRA is not the right answer. The call center should disqualify these quickly rather than fight a wrong-fit deal.
| Buyer | Better choice | Why |
|---|---|---|
| 3D scanning for indoor / BIM as-built only | Polycam, Matterport | Indoor scanning is a different problem; LAIRA is outdoor / surface-condition |
| Aerial-only inspection (rooftops, bridges substructure) | DroneDeploy, Skydio, Pix4D | Aerial is a different sensor modality; LAIRA is ground-based |
| Pure construction project management | Fieldwire, Procore, Autodesk Build | Different workflow; complement, not substitute |
| ASTM E274 friction / skid testing | Specialized contact-friction equipment | Requires physical contact; LAIRA covers surface texture, not friction |
| Subsurface structural (FWD) | Falling Weight Deflectometer service providers | Requires physical loading |
What LAIRA uniquely owns¶
If asked "what does only LAIRA do that nobody else does in this price range," the answer is:
"Compliance-grade output, mapped section-by-section to the standards that regulate the surface, delivered as an ArcGIS feature service in the customer's own tenant, captured from a phone or iPad the inspector already owns. No other product in the under-$50/month tier produces an output that holds up against ASTM D6433, PROWAG, or ICAO Annex 14 audit posture. That's it. That's the moat."
Memorize that paragraph.
Competitive battlecard — quick reference¶
| If they bring up... | Pivot to... |
|---|---|
| "We already use Polycam / Scaniverse" | "Great. Keep using it for the 3D scans you do for other reasons. LAIRA is the compliance-output piece your audit posture needs. Different job." |
| "We use Fieldwire on every site" | "Perfect. Fieldwire is the punch list; LAIRA is the condition record. They live next to each other in the workflow." |
| "We have Bluebeam licenses across the firm" | "Bluebeam is the markup tool; LAIRA is the field capture. You'd use both. We can export PDFs straight into your Bluebeam workflow." |
| "We use drones for everything" | "Where can your drones not fly? Airspace, weather, indoor / under-canopy, close to the surface — that's the LAIRA gap. Same data class, ground perspective." |
| "What about ARAN / Fugro?" | "ARAN is a million-dollar truck. If your team has that budget and that throughput need, the LAIRA Rig is the right conversation — let me get you a Rig specialist. The LAIRA app is for the 95% of inspections that don't need a vehicle." (And escalate to Airwai for the Rig.) |
| "Can you do bridges / underwater / asbestos?" | "No. We do not. Different sensor modality entirely. Let me make sure you've got the right tool for that job, and we'll talk again on the pavement / ROW work you also need." |