Case Study: Propeller Aero ships realtime collaborative 3D maps with Liveblocks

Propeller Aero launches collaborative 3D maps in 45 minutes with Liveblocks

Propeller Aero, a provider of smart survey technology for construction sites, faced a challenge after observing their customers revert to printing out digital 3D maps to collaboratively mark them up. They wanted to build a digital collaborative drawing feature to eliminate this workflow interruption. However, developing the necessary realtime collaboration infrastructure in-house using technologies like WebSockets was estimated to be a significant and complex undertaking. To avoid this, they turned to the vendor Liveblocks.

By integrating Liveblocks, specifically the @liveblocks/react package, Propeller's engineering team implemented a conflict-free, collaborative drawing experience for their 3D maps in just 45 minutes. This rapid development allowed them to quickly test the new feature with users. The solution from Liveblocks enabled realtime synchronization, so multiple users could view and edit markups simultaneously. As a result, Propeller successfully launched the experiment without having to maintain any additional collaboration infrastructure, freeing their team to focus on front-end development and user feedback.

Propeller Aero