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

  • Precision narrows the gap between design software and GIS
    March 20, 2012
    Greater precision is helping blur the boundaries between GIS technology and design software While GIS map based technology has extended its range across an ever more universal spectrum of uses in the highways sector, it is increasingly showing weaknesses for engineering purposes. It is very often not accurate enough. This has not mattered previously because the GIS tool has been seen essentially as an automated version of paper based systems from the design department's point of view. Where engineers
  • Dutch road widening benefits from 3D software
    February 24, 2012
    Modern software is stretching traditional design boundaries on a motorway widening in the Netherlands, reports Adrian Greeman There was a time when civil engineering and aesthetics did not mix too well, especially on roads. The artistic ideas of an architect did not blend with the stringent requirements of structure. But modern three-dimensional modelling software is helping this change. Design notions that might have been overly complicated in the past are now attainable with hi-tech analysis tools.
  • Scanning accurately
    July 19, 2012
    Riegl says that its innovative laser scanners allow accurate 3D mapping from the air or on-road. The system uses high-speed laser pulses to capture millimetre accurate measurements at ranges of up to 500m. The scanners offer online full-waveform analysis, digital processing and high data capture rates, according to the firm. With scanning rates up to 100 scans/second and pulse repetition rates up to 200 Hz the range is said to offer multiple, unlimited target capability. A range of additional options includ
  • Rapid adoption of GPS machine control
    February 10, 2012
    The high sophistication of GPS machine control systems has resulted in a fast pace of technological advancement. The three major players in the machine control sector, Leica Geosystems, Topcon and Trimble have all made major gains in recent years. The sophistication of the latest systems can combine satellite position data from the GPS and GLONASS networks with information from total stations to provide precise, high speed machine operation. Further more the firms have also prepared themselves for the intro