Intergeo 2008 Preview

More than five hundred exhibitors from 32 countries are due to put in an appearance at Intergeo 2008, presenting a comprehensive overview of the geo(infor)matics business today. Covering a wide range of subject areas and technologies - from data capture, navigation, traffic/logistics and local authority needs to special applications in the fields of the environment, risk and disaster management, and 3D-visualisation – Intergeo is one of the world’s most important trade fairs for geodesy, geoinformation and land management.<P> This year the three-day trade fair and congress organised by HINTE GmbH in association with the German Society for Geodesy, Geoinformation and... (read more)

2008-09-23 12:00:00

Intergeo Preview 2011 (2)

Everyone who truly matters in the geomatics and surveying-related business will be travelling to Germany ¨C or more precisely to the Bavarian city of Nuremberg ¨C in the last week of September this year: Intergeo 2011 is being held in the Nuremberg exhibition centre (N¨¹rnbergMesse) from 27th to 29th September. The organisers are expecting some 17,500 visitors from more than 80 countries around the world to attend the trade show, while the associated conference is likely to welcome over 1,500 visitors ¨C and you will probably be among them! (Continued from Part 1 A - Joseph Attenberger) Juniper Systems... (read more)

2011-09-21 04:24:30

Surveying in the Mining Sector

An Overview of Geospatial Methods in Mining Engineering

What is the current status of surveying in the mining industry, and which survey equipment and technologies are being used today? Geospatial data forms the foundation of mining. The rapidly evolving innovations in the geomatics sector are bringing previously unforeseen opportunities that will provide a major boost, both to mining surveyors and the mining industry as a whole. Read on for an article which starts with some history – after all, we should never forget where we came from. It then goes on to present a general outline of surveying in the mining industry, with a focus on the survey... (read more)

2017-02-01 08:46:34

Survey Value Takes off with UAV

Landpro, New Zealand, has been using a UAV to deliver better survey value to mining, quarry and land development clients in Australia and New Zealand. The company acquired a Topodrone-100 in 2014. The gyro-stabilised mount was a key reason for the purchase, along with accuracy and regional product support. Topodrone-100 results are reliable and repeatable. Comparison to previous surfaces clearly demonstrates a data accuracy better than 50 mm for mining projects. Mission planning and strategically placed control points are key to obtaining highly accurate results, said Mike Borthwick, director technical services of Landpro. Mine deliverables Landpro conducts UAV surveys to... (read more)

2015-04-07 10:20:21

Point Clouds (2)

Survey of Processing Software

Collecting and processing point clouds has been trending topic in the geospatial sector over the past few years. This article focuses on point cloud processing software aimed at creating DEMs or DSMs and products derived from these. The first article of this diptych, originally published in the June 2014 issue of GIM International, focused on functionalities. This survey starts with the software of Terrasolid, which is based in Helsinki, Finland. It will then focus on three systems listed on the Geo-matching.com website, subsequently continuing with software which operates independently from the particular sensors, to then arrive at proprietary systems. It... (read more)

2014-07-25 10:02:27

Digital Twinning and the Complexity of Reality

Digital twinning is based on the idea that a digital informational construct of a physical system can be created as a separate entity. The digital information is a ‘twin’ of the information embedded within the physical system itself, and is linked to it throughout the entire system life cycle. Rapid development of the digital twin approach offers mining companies the promise of optimizing processes and automating decision-making – if they are brave enough to tackle the complexity of reality. The basic concept of the 'digital twin' model has remained fairly stable from its inception in 2002 when it was introduced by... (read more)

2018-09-05 02:45:14

Hurricane Devastation Mapping and Modelling

I-SiTE Studio software, a product of Maptek Pty (Australia), was recently used by a team of engineers and researchers sponsored by the US National Science Foundation to map structural and geotechnical damage to levees and waterways in New Orleans, caused by Hurricane Katrina in August 2005. Scanning was carried out on 10 different sites where levees had failed, and highly detailed 3D models were generated to assist with analysis and reconstruction. More than 180 scans were recorded over 5 days. The objective of the laser scanning was to obtain precise measurements of the ground surface to map soil displacements at... (read more)

2005-11-16 12:00:00

Mexican University Benefits from Software Licence Donation

The University of Zacatecas, Mexico, recently benefited from a donation of 20 Maptek Vulcan licences. Key personnel at the Department of Engineering and Earth Sciences received training immediately after their licences were delivered on 17 September. The department, which contains more than 780 students, concentrates on three key fields: Metallurgy and Mining Engineering, Geological Engineering, and Environmental Sciences. Mining and geology students taking courses such as mine geomatics, exploration, mineral deposits, underground and open pit mining, and geostatistics will be able to work in Vulcan to complement their studies. The institution focuses strongly on academic research, said Hermes Robles Berumen,... (read more)

2012-10-15 11:32:08

There’s No I in Survey

Terrestrial laser scanners were introduced to the mining industry as a smart tool for surveyors – a high-technology method for obtaining data more quickly and safely than previous methods. In fact Peter Johnson, the author of this column, started his career at Maptek overseeing the development of the first purpose-built-for-mining laser scanners. The potential for laser technology to transform entire mine sites was obvious 20 years ago, and the level of detail and accuracy that these compact instruments can achieve is astounding, he writes. Cut to 2018 and mine site survey teams are facing different challenges, such as the imperative... (read more)

2018-10-19 02:14:20

Making the Most of Smart Tools for Intelligent Results

Why do some organisations seem so much smarter than others? Why are some companies able to navigate the uncertain currents of the world around them and handle the inherent vagaries of geology and mining practically, and others are not? In this column Chris Green, leader of strategic innovation at Maptek, concludes that smart tools do not automatically lead to more intelligent results, and he provides some suggestions for how to make the most of them. On the one hand, there are companies making huge profits while running on a tech-enabled model in which most operational decisions are made by machines.... (read more)

2018-12-05 11:27:30