GPS World, February 2019
COVERSTORY UAV LIDAR GIVES MAPS A POP ASPECTS AND ADVANTAGES TO LASER USE WHY ABANDON WELL WORN MAPPING METHODS IN CURRENT USE It has to be for one or more forms of gain time money or staffpower UAV borne lidar can save a lot of field time eliminate the need for site revisits capture more data than previously possible and provide a better product using more automated extraction tools BY Jeff Fagerman S urveyors and other mappers must frequently develop a reliable surface model of an area about to undergo major construction If it is new construction over native soil then the area is often covered with vegetation ranging from short grass to very tall trees By far the majority of these areas are surveyed using GPS total stations levels or some combination thereof depending on the project In any case at least one trained individual more often two or even three individuals must walk the area collecting the necessary data with some form of survey equipment This is the tried and true methodology It is easy to schedule easy to estimate and barring any field or office mistakes absolutely reliable Manually visiting a point in the field on return visits should yield similar 18 GPS WORLD WWW GPSWORLD COM FEBRUARY 2019 though not exact results at least within the tolerances of the equipment It doesnt matter if the temperatures are near freezing or over 100 degrees It doesnt matter if it is raining or sunny It doesnt matter if the grass is cut or if the leaves are on and in full glory This is a very reliable method in all respects assuming the proper tools and techniques are used How can this type of field survey be improved upon First is the product sufficient Does the field crew reliably capture all the pertinent features Did they get the location of the trees buildings poles and so on How many site visits are usually required to complete the average project What about the elevation data Did they capture the drainage and breaklines sufficiently Photo Bailie McRae
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