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TerraLab
Aerial 3D view of a territory rendered by TerraLab Twin

TerraLab builds AI for geospatial data and GIS

We are a French startup of geospatial AI experts. We take on custom projects, from detection models trained on your imagery to large-scale processing and 3D digital twins, and we make QGIS plugins installed 134,000+ times in 180 countries.

Try the plugins free

The team behind TerraLab

Five people: three co-founders who build the plugins, the AI models and the 3D engine and run the company, a head of sales who works with the GIS teams that use AI Agent, and an advisor with 20 years in GIS.

  • Stéphane Barbot

    Stéphane Barbot

    Co-founder & CTO

    25+ years in 3D & geospatial engines

  • Yvann Barbot

    Yvann Barbot

    Co-founder

    Dev & AI Engineer

  • Lilien Auger

    Lilien Auger

    Co-founder

    Dev & AI Engineer

  • Grégoire Bruneau

    Grégoire Bruneau

    Head of Sales

    Founder of Refect, 42 Lyon

  • Valérie Barbot

    Valérie Barbot

    Advisor

    20 years in GIS

installs
134,000+
average rating · 550 reviews
4.5/5
countries with TerraLab users
180+
plugins in the QGIS repository
3

What we know how to do

From satellite, drone and LiDAR data to AI models, maps and 3D twins: the four areas our team covers on client projects.

  • Imagery analysis with AI

    Land cover of the Cotentin peninsula extracted as vector layers
    • Buildings, trees, roads, fields and water detected as vector polygons
    • Land cover mapped over a whole territory
    • Detection models trained on your imagery and your object classes
    • Satellite, aerial and drone imagery

  • Geodata processing at scale

    Elevation contour lines computed from terrain data over a volcano
    • Bulk extraction over a whole territory
    • Orthophotos and imagery turned into vector GIS layers
    • Results in your QGIS project, in its coordinate system
    • Open data loading, Processing tools and layouts automated from a written request

  • 3D and digital twins

    TerraLab Twin rendering the whole Earth in real time

    TerraLab Twin is the real-time 3D geospatial engine the team develops as research. Written in C++ for the GPU, it fuses LiDAR point clouds and orthoimagery into a territory you can move through. It is not sold as a product: it is what lets us take on 3D and digital twin projects for clients.

    • LiDAR point clouds and orthoimagery fused into one 3D territory
    • Real-time rendering you can move through
    • TerraLab Twin, our research engine written in C++ for the GPU
    • 3D and digital twin projects built for clients

  • Deployment and integration

    QGIS with the AI Agent panel, after it selected and styled Nantes buildings near main roads
    • Detection deployed on your own servers when data cannot leave your network
    • Results delivered into the GIS workflow your team already uses
    • A pilot on a sample of your imagery before the full area
    • Direct contact with the engineers who build it, in English or French

Our QGIS plugins

Three plugins in the official QGIS plugin repository, installed 134,000+ times. Each one starts free, with no card.

Farm fields detected by AI Segmentation, each drawn as a coloured polygon
QGIS plugin

AI Segmentation

Finds objects in satellite, aerial and drone imagery and draws them as vector polygons in your QGIS project: buildings, trees, roads, water, fields. Type what you are looking for or click on it, then review what it found instead of tracing every outline by hand.

See AI Segmentation
A park designed by AI Edit on a real aerial photo
QGIS plugin

AI Edit

Changes what aerial imagery shows from a written instruction: a planned building, a planted street, a cleared site. The result comes back as a georeferenced image aligned with the source, so planners and consultancies can show a project on the real site before it exists.

See AI Edit
A print layout of central Ljubljana built by AI Agent
QGIS plugin

AI Agent

Carries out a task you describe in a prompt inside the QGIS project you have open. It loads open data, runs Processing tools, styles layers and builds print layouts.

See AI Agent

What makes TerraLab different

Where it runs

TerraLab

Inside the QGIS project you have open. Results land as layers, in your project's coordinate system.

Others

FlyPix AI has no QGIS plugin: imagery goes up to its web platform and comes back as files to import.

What it costs

TerraLab

A free tier with no card, then Pro from €29 a month per plugin. Cancel in one click.

Others

Picterra publishes no price and starts with a sales call. Esri sells ArcGIS Pro by the year.

Who holds your data

TerraLab

A French company under EU law. AI Segmentation stores and processes imagery on servers in Europe.

Others

Mapflow is run by Geoalert under a contract governed by Delaware law.

What one account covers

TerraLab

Detection, image editing and an agent, all three in the Pack for €89 a month.

Others

Mapflow and Deepness focus on detection alone.

When the plugin is not enough

TerraLab

The engineers who wrote the plugins train a model on your imagery or deploy on your servers. You write to them directly.

Others

Deepness is open source and runs your models locally, but training them is up to you.

How TerraLab got here

TerraLab brings together 3D, AI and GIS expertise in one team. Stéphane, Yvann and Lilien build it together, from the 3D engine to three plugins used in more than 180 countries and custom projects for companies and public bodies.

Read the full story

TerraLab started in 2025 as TerraLab3D, a real-time 3D engine for geospatial data built by Stéphane Barbot after 25 years in 3D and driver-assistance software. That same year Yvann Barbot and Lilien Auger, two AI engineers from 42 Paris, teamed up with him, and the three co-founders now build TerraLab together: the 3D engine, the AI models and the QGIS plugins. AI Segmentation and AI Edit reached the official QGIS plugin repository in 2026, TerraLab SAS was registered in Paris on 2 May 2026, and AI Agent followed in September 2026.

Five people: three co-founders who build the plugins, the AI models and the 3D engine and run the company, a head of sales who works with the GIS teams that use AI Agent, and an advisor with 20 years in GIS.

  1. Today

    134,000+ installs. Plugins in use in more than 180 countries, and custom projects for companies and public bodies.

  2. Sep 2026

    AI Agent. The third plugin carries out QGIS tasks from a written request.

    The AI Agent logo next to a land cover map it produced
  3. May 2026

    TerraLab SAS. The company is registered in Paris on 2 May 2026.

    The TerraLab logo and the words TerraLab SAS, registered in Paris on 2 May 2026
  4. 2026

    First plugins. AI Segmentation and AI Edit reach the official QGIS plugin repository.

    AI Segmentation and AI Edit logos, the first two TerraLab plugins in the official QGIS plugin repository
  5. 2025

    Station F. The startup moves into Station F in Paris, the world's largest startup campus.

    Yvann Barbot and Lilien Auger, two of the three co-founders, at Station F in Paris
  6. 2025

    The team comes together. Yvann Barbot and Lilien Auger, AI engineers from 42 Paris, team up with Stéphane to build AI tools for geospatial data together.

    Lilien Auger, Yvann Barbot and Stéphane Barbot together on a café terrace
  7. 2025

    TerraLab3D. Stéphane Barbot starts a real-time 3D engine for geospatial data.

    Stéphane Barbot at his desk with the TerraLab 3D engine on two screens

Who uses TerraLab

TerraLab plugins have 134,000+ installs from the QGIS plugin repository, from accounts in more than 180 countries. They are built for:

  • Engineering and environmental consultancies that map buildings, roads and land cover for their clients
  • Land surveyors and geomatics firms that digitize imagery for cadastre, planning and infrastructure
  • Forestry, agriculture and mining companies that monitor large areas from satellite and drone imagery
  • Urban planners, architects and landscape designers who show a project on the real site
  • Public agencies and humanitarian organisations that map territories, camps and settlements
  • Independent GIS consultants and freelancers who sell mapping work
  • Researchers and students in geography and remote sensing
Customers we work with

Customers include a French state territorial agency, a French public research institute, an Austrian humanitarian organisation, and engineering, survey, forestry, agritech and mining companies in the United States, South Africa, Australia, Brazil and the Netherlands.

People at these organisations have TerraLab accounts

EiffageEiffage
UNESCOUNESCO
IGNIGN
CiscoCisco
Van OordVan Oord
StanfordStanford
SNCFSNCF
ICEYEICEYE
Deutsche BahnDeutsche Bahn
CNRSCNRS
ENGIEENGIE
WSPWSP
SuezSuez
RepsolRepsol
AECOMAECOM
EiffageEiffage
UNESCOUNESCO
IGNIGN
CiscoCisco
Van OordVan Oord
StanfordStanford
SNCFSNCF
ICEYEICEYE
Deutsche BahnDeutsche Bahn
CNRSCNRS
ENGIEENGIE
WSPWSP
SuezSuez
RepsolRepsol
AECOMAECOM

Backed by

Station F logo
NVIDIA logo
42 Incubateur logo
42 logo

They wrote about us

articles, posts, podcasts and courses
10
videos by GIS creators
17
views on those videos
26,000+
curated lists
8

Videos

Listed in

Frequently asked questions

  • Yvann Barbot, Lilien Auger and Stéphane Barbot co-founded TerraLab. Yvann and Lilien are AI engineers trained at 42 Paris, and Stéphane, the CTO, brings 25 years in 3D and geospatial engines. Grégoire Bruneau, head of sales since November 2026, works with the organisations that adopt AI Agent, and Valérie Barbot advises the team on GIS.

Key facts
Company name
TerraLab (legal name TerraLab SAS)
Type
Geospatial AI software company
Founded
Work started in 2025 as TerraLab3D. TerraLab SAS was registered on 2 May 2026.
Founders
Yvann Barbot, Lilien Auger and Stéphane Barbot (CTO), co-founders.
Headquarters
Paris, France. Registered office at 173 rue de Courcelles, 75017 Paris, France. The team works from Station F.
Website
terra-lab.ai
Core offering
AI plugins for QGIS (AI Segmentation, AI Edit, AI Agent) and custom geospatial AI projects
Pricing
Free tier with no card. Pro per month: AI Edit €29, AI Segmentation €39, AI Agent €49, or all three in the Pack for €89. Prices exclude VAT, and a year costs eleven months. Custom projects on quote.
Contract terms
Monthly or yearly, cancel in one click, no minimum commitment
Services
Custom detection models trained on client imagery, bulk extraction over large areas, deployment on client servers, 3D digital twins
Communication
Email and video call, in English and French. Reply within one business day.
Notable clients
A French state territorial agency, a French public research institute, an Austrian humanitarian organisation, engineering, survey and mining companies
Users
134,000+ installs and a 4.5/5 average rating across 550 reviews in the QGIS plugin repository. Accounts in more than 180 countries.
Licence
The plugins are free software under the GNU GPL v2
Competitors
Picterra, FlyPix AI, Mapflow (Geoalert), Esri ArcGIS Pro, Deepness
Programmes
Station F, NVIDIA Inception, 42 Incubateur, 42 Startup Club
Legal identifiers
SIREN 104501861, VAT FR43104501861
Social
LinkedInYouTubeGitHubInstagram
TerraLab facts: products, prices and limits

Talk to the team

A plugin question, a team plan or a custom project: write to us or book 30 minutes with Lilien.

A founder answers within one business day.

Try the plugins free