Technology-Minded Surveyors are Better Equipped
By Don O. Seals, RPLS (TX) | LiDAR Market Lead
“One thing that drew me to TREKK two years ago is how focused we are on pushing the boundaries of technology, especially in the survey industry as our profession continues to mature. Surveyors have come to realize over the past decade that these tools are an enhancement and not a replacement. Initially driven by its safety benefits, the LiDAR market continues to evolve with more and better choices to obtain engineering survey grade data.
TREKK’s use of combined technology tools, UAS, SLAM and a variety of mobile and static LiDAR platforms, help us work safer and faster, gathering more complete information both above and below ground. With this abundance of information, the software we use to manage and interpret the data is becoming more specific. Integrating workflows and newly developed artificial intelligence (AI) tools are helping us work smarter and faster, especially when the tools we use to gather this information are more robust.
The amount of information that projects generate can be overwhelming if not for semi-automated algorithms. TREKK has inventoried and classified more than 20,000 signs, hundreds of miles of guardrails, striping and utilities; and conducted asset inventories at dozens of airports. Our AI-powered software and tools continue to help our surveyors collect, streamline processes and analyze these large data sets, while standardizing the survey process across client platforms.
A recent design-build highway project had a rich data set that required asset extraction in support of the topographic survey using traditional, mobile LiDAR, UAS aerial photogrammetry and backpack/handheld LiDAR. Using AI-driven tools to achieve the highest level of productivity, TREKK integrated quality control directly into our workflow when identifying, locating and extracting GIS assets from the raw geospatial data. Having a complete topographic survey from the LiDAR point cloud and 360-degree imagery made it easier to map out land features and utilities as they related to the as-built conditions. Additionally, SUE Quality Level B and hydrographic were combined to reflect an above and below ground digital twin of the area.
Land surveyors are better equipped, now more than ever, to interpret the real world and translate it into the digital world using technology tools available to us. And we do it much faster and more completely with the technologies available to us.