{"id":99241,"title":"Mach9 - Make Maps Fast. AI-Powered CAD Software for Reality Capture","tagline":"We help infrastructure survey and engineering teams turn raw point cloud data into engineering-ready CAD/GIS deliverables up to 100x faster.","body":"Hi everyone! \n\nWe’re [Alex](https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexbaikovitz/), [Zach](https://www.linkedin.com/in/zachsussman/), [Haowen](https://www.linkedin.com/in/haowensh/), and [Michael ](https://www.linkedin.com/in/mmong/)- co-founders of [Mach9](https://mach9.ai/). \n\n**📍TLDR**: \n\nMach9's Digital Surveyor 2 is a geospatial platform that turns LiDAR point clouds into engineering-ready deliverables up to 100x faster. Its AI-powered extraction engine identifies and extracts linear features — including curbs, pavement edges, guardrails, and barriers — and learns from each user's edits to improve accuracy over time.\n\nSurvey and engineering teams at Langan, Olsson, HDR, Woolpert, Michael Baker International, and major utilities and state DOTs already use it in production.\n\nCheck out our Digital Surveyor 2 Launch Video:\n\n[**https://youtu.be/XoISK5nx87E?si=mzcrxg5uI3hynSm2**](https://youtu.be/XoISK5nx87E?si=mzcrxg5uI3hynSm2)\n\n**❌ The Problem**\n\nEvery road, bridge, fiber network, and utility corridor project starts with a survey. Increasingly, that survey is done with LiDAR scans encompassing millions of points.\n\n**But here's the thing**: Collecting data isn't the hard part anymore, turning it into engineering ready deliverables is. Today, that work is being done manually. Skilled technicians sit in front of a screen and trace features one by one across potentially thousands of features. Paint lines, curbs, poles, signs, guardrails. Mile after mile.\n\n**As a result**: Firms turn down work they could win, deadlines slip, and the most expensive bottleneck of the workflow is the part that hasn't changed in 20 years.\n\n**✅ Our Solution**\n\nDigital Surveyor 2 is a web-based CAD application where AI works alongside drafters to extract features from point cloud data dramatically faster — without sacrificing the precision their clients require.\n\nHere's what makes it different:\n\n🔹 **AI that drafts with you**. \n\nThe feature extraction engine in Digital Surveyor 2 suggests linear features, such as curbs, pavement edges, guardrails, and barriers directly from LiDAR point clouds — and adapts to the user’s drawing patterns. As users draw, the software picks up on their patterns and refines its suggestions in real time.\n\n![uploaded image](/media/?type=post\u0026id=99241\u0026key=user_uploads/311199/ca66f2e8-267b-4693-83ec-81b92eabb558)\n\n🔹 **Field-to-finish in one environment**. \n\nIngest point cloud data from any system such as RIEGL, Trimble, or Leica scanners. Extract features with AI-assisted workflows and precision tools. Easily QA everything in 3D. Export directly into AutoCAD, MicroStation, or ESRI. No switching between tools. No preprocessing pipeline.\n\n🔹 **Built for the people who do this work**. \n\nDS2 was designed so that a surveyor who knows where points go in the field can be productive on day one. Surveyors, field techs, and project managers can easily be working in it with minimal ramp time or CAD expertise.\n\n![uploaded image](/media/?type=post\u0026id=99241\u0026key=user_uploads/311199/e5e82676-f1fd-4bcd-bd86-fcca46636e29)\n\n🙏 **Our Ask**\n\n* **👉 Follow us** — Stay up to date with what we're building. Follow Mach9 on[ ](https://www.linkedin.com/company/mach9)[LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/company/mach9geo).\n* **🔗 Intro us** — Know someone at a electric / telecom utility, data center owner, DOT, or survey/engineering firm that works with LiDAR or mobile mapping data? A warm intro goes a long way. We're especially looking to connect with survey and engineering leaders, mobile mapping teams, CAD/GIS technicians, and geospatial production leads.\n* **🚀 Try it yourself** — If your team is turning point clouds into deliverables today, we'd love to show you what DS2 can do. [Get started here](http://mach9.ai/get-started?utm_source=YC\u0026utm_medium=article\u0026utm_campaign=launch_post).\n* 💼 **We're hiring** — We're building engineering software to transform the $3 trillion global infrastructure industry. If you want to work on hard problems at the intersection of AI, geospatial, and computer graphics, we're scaling across GTM, engineering, and operations. Check out our open roles [here](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/mach9).\n\n![uploaded image](/media/?type=post\u0026id=99241\u0026key=user_uploads/311199/d7592b72-f824-4cf8-9921-48b5b14674fc)\n\n","slug":"Pof-mach9-make-maps-fast-ai-powered-cad-software-for-reality-capture","created_at":"2026-03-30T20:07:04.564Z","updated_at":"2026-05-25T04:23:20.597Z","total_vote_count":26,"url":"https://www.ycombinator.com/launches/Pof-mach9-make-maps-fast-ai-powered-cad-software-for-reality-capture","share_image_url":"https://www.ycombinator.com/media/?type=post\u0026id=99241\u0026key=user_uploads/311199/d7592b72-f824-4cf8-9921-48b5b14674fc","company":{"id":24551,"name":"Mach9","slug":"mach9","url":"https://www.mach9.ai/","logo":"https://bookface-images.s3.amazonaws.com/small_logos/05390d32227edd1416d7dc545801c3fc59e2ac15.png","batch":"Summer 2021","industry":"B2B","tags":["Artificial Intelligence","Machine Learning","Computer Vision","Design Tools","Infrastructure"],"search_path":"https://bookface.ycombinator.com/company/24551"}}