Skip to main content

Made to Measure laser mapping

Dutch surveying company Geomaat says it is taking millimetre accurate measurements in record time to aid a range of highway design, construction and maintenance projects. Using the mobile laser mapping system StreetMapper, and specially developed point cloud software, Geomaat says it can calculate highly accurate cutting, milling and asphalt figures, create as built models and undertake change detection.
June 15, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
Geomaat says it can capture millimetre accurate measurements in record time through StreetMapper to assist highway design, construction and maintenance projects
Dutch surveying company 5100 Geomaat says it is taking millimetre accurate measurements in record time to aid a range of highway design, construction and maintenance projects.

Using the mobile laser mapping system StreetMapper, and specially developed point cloud software, Geomaat says it can calculate highly accurate cutting, milling and asphalt figures, create as built models and undertake change detection.   
 
“In the past these types of measurement were undertaken using total stations which was time consuming, and therefore costly, and had a big impact on other road users,” says Jolle Jelle de Vries, managing director of Geomaat.

“For example a 10km stretch of highway would have taken at least 20 nights to survey, each night requiring extensive traffic management or road closures. The resulting measurements would then have taken about a week to process. Using StreetMapper we can deliver a new design, from start to finish, in less than a week!”
 
De Vries says that Geomaat’s measurement technology can save clients up to 50 per cent in project survey measurement costs. He also says that using StreetMapper to take 3D measurements of everything within a 300metre corridor of the survey vehicle means that, unlike traditional surveying techniques, there is no need to revisit a site.

Recent projects undertaken by Geomaat said to have benefited from the use of the StreetMapper mobile mapping system include a project to upgrade the A50 between Ewijk and Valburg on behalf of the Rijkswaterstaat, an executive of the 5216 Ministry of Infrastructure and Environment in The Netherlands, a project to upgrade the runway at Johan Adolf Pengel International Airport in Suriname and surveying over 500km of highway in support of LEM Contracts (Lifetime Maintenance). Using StreetMapper, Geomaat is also hoping to work with Dutch municipalities to support the introduction in 2012 of a new BGT (Basic Registration History and Topography) law in The Netherlands.

Developed by UK-based 1639 3D Laser Mapping and German company IGI, StreetMapper has been specifically designed for the rapid 3D mapping of highways, runways, railways, infrastructure and buildings. Using vehicle-mounted lasers offering a 360° field of view, StreetMapper enables high precision mapping to a range of 300metres, a capacity of 550,000 measurements per second per sensor and recorded accuracies in independent real world projects of better than 10millimetres.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Asset management and BIM solutions offer cost efficiency
    May 22, 2018
    New technology will help deliver projects more efficiently – Mike Woof writes. An array of new software and hardware tools are coming to market that can boost working efficiency for construction projects. Technology company thinkWhere is helping to improve collaboration and communication on Scotland’s largest road infrastructure project. Providing online access to multiple layers of live project maps and geographical data, the firm’s groundMapper software offers a web-based viewer that is allowing the co
  • Drones in construction, the future of surveying?
    August 21, 2015
    It may be early days for using drones – unmanned aerial systems (UAS) -- to map construction sites, but technology and legislation are moving in that direction. At the moment drones can fly within only a 500m radius of the ‘pilot’ standing on the ground, making the flight area a 1km diameter. This is the key limiting issue for any sector, especially road construction, says Jonathan Gill, a robotics engineer and a qualified drone pilot for the past seven years.
  • Sophisticated scanning tool from Leica Geosystems
    November 8, 2017
    A new laser scanning tool from Leica Geosystems offers accurate and fast 3D imaging laser scanning capabilities. The Leica BLK360 is said to be compact and easy to use, offering powerful spherical image capture duties. The firm says that the unit allows professionals to capture 360° imagery within minutes.
  • Simple road safety measures save lives
    February 15, 2012
    Elementary road safety measures quickly pay back the costs of investment and, more importantly, help save lives as Patrick Smith reports. More than 300 people in the UK are alive today or have avoided the prospect of a lifetime of special care because just 15 roads have had simple improvements put in place.