Infrastructure Solutions
Key Advantage:
Produces highly accurate results
Increases safety
Reduces costs
Useful in remote or difficult-to-access areas
Fast mobilization
Variety of aerial platforms
Caltech’s geospatial team routinely provides solutions for surveying and mapping areas with remote and exceptionally challenging terrain.
Challenge
Caltech recently completed an infrastructure project that was developed to complete flood mapping and stormwater drainage analysis for a river and flood plain running through a remote Indigenous community. The survey scope included topographic mapping with lidar, aerial imagery, bathymetric river profiles, a bridge survey, and Quality Assurance (QA).
With winter quickly approaching, the project had to be completed before snowfall would delay the project until the following year. In addition, a late-season forest fire in the region threatened to introduce thick smoke into the project area.
The isolated region featured a thick boreal forest, steep topography, and limited access, among other challenges that all contributed to the project’s complexity. Conventional surveying methods were not practical for providing the required level of accuracy or completing the project within the deadlines. They could also introduce safety risks.
Solution
In this recent project, Caltech utilized aerial mobile mapping to complete most of the data acquisition. Our highly trained, experienced field professionals also provided supplementary ground-based surveying of checkpoints and bathymetric cross-sections. The tight deadline, ~5000-acre project size, steep topography, and tall trees restricted the use of Unoccupied Aerial Systems (UAS) for aerial mapping. Caltech’s state-of-the-art Mobile Mapping Systems are highly adaptable, allowing Caltech to utilize a helicopter to collect data over a single flight.
In total, 31 cross-sections were surveyed on the river along with more than 20 high-accuracy horizontal and vertical Ground Control Points (GCP). The control network gave our clients confidence in the products Caltech produced as they were verified using the American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ASPRS) accuracy standards for digital geospatial data.
Deliverables provided:
- Classified lidar LAS files
- Digital Terrain Model (DTM) and Digital Surface Model (DSM)
- Shaded Relief Model
- Orthorectified Mosaic Image
- Point file with all ground surveyed points
- 3D ArcGIS Online Web Experience
Time: One day of aerial mapping can replace weeks of ground-based surveying
Accuracy: Data is tested to meet a 6cm Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) ASPRS Accuracy Class
Quality: The data quality exceeds the Federal Airborne Lidar Data Acquisition Guideline Canadian Quality Level 1 (CQL1) specifications
Respecting the project deadlines and weather-related challenges, the Caltech team was able to mobilize to the project area within one week of the project award. The crucial element of fast mobilization combined with our ability to utilize helicopters for highly efficient data collection allowed our team to deliver the data weeks ahead of schedule.
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