http://www.pobonline.com/copyright/BNP_GUID_9-5-2006_A...

Opportunities on the Move

by Lieca N. Hohner

Posted: March 1, 2009

Mobile scanning offers surveyors faster, safer data collection

and future jobs.

Survey organizations are faced with the challenge of getting transportation-

infrastructure projects shovel-ready as soon as possible in compliance with the
Obama administration’s $787 billion economic stimulus plan. In the U.S., there
are approximately 4 million miles of roads, 600,000 bridges, 20,000 airports and
160,000 miles of rail infrastructure--and, according to the American Society of
Civil Engineer’s 2009 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure, much of it is in
substandard condition.

To carry out the required work, some surveyors are turning to a newer
technology: mobile scanning. This solution is proving to accelerate data
collection and compress project schedules while being cost-effective and safer to
boot. Although it is initially expensive, creative partnering can get firms of any
size into the mobile scanning game.

Three States Illustrate Initial Success

Federal and state agencies are increasingly implementing mobile scanning

solutions to validate actual field conditions against design constraints before
construction begins. Last July, the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT)
Northwest Region-Region 2 commissioned David Evans & Associates Inc. (DEA)
to collect roadway characteristics on about 70 miles in the Beaver State. These
data will assist a widening project of Interstate 5, the improvement of guardrails
and lane shoulder widths, and the updating of sidewalks to meet ADA
requirements.

Mandli Communications Inc., based in Madison, Wis., is currently undertaking

the first statewide terrestrial-based mobile survey for the Tennessee Department
of Transportation. The full-resolution LiDAR data will provide advanced
visualization options as well as a robust database of asset extraction information
for more than 27,000 lane miles that will include every state-maintained road in
Tennessee. These data can be fully integrated with the department’s existing

1 of 5 3/13/09 9:53 AM
 http://www.pobonline.com/copyright/BNP_GUID_9-5-2006_A...

management software.

Mobile scanning shaves weeks off of various project schedules and reduces
costly manual efforts for data collection and extraction. In addition to the speed
of collection (new systems capture data while the vehicles to which they’re
mounted travel at posted speeds) are the benefits of securing data on a variety
of objects and structures in each pass as well as the ability to extract any
particular point into a preferred CAD format. Geospatial solution provider
Sanborn reports cost savings of 25 to 75 percent of a traditional survey
depending on the topographic features collected. “Most mobile systems can
average approximately 10 miles or better of high-definition collection per day,”
says Sanborn Vice President Jim Peterson II, PE, PLS. “Because of this rapid
collection rate, more mileage equals a greater schedule benefit.”

What’s more, according to DEA’s Survey & Mapping Director Marcus Reedy, PLS,
is the impressive point density and accuracy to design level compared to survey
shots from digital levels, RTK GPS and terrestrial laser scanning.

From the integration of kinematic GPS, LiDAR scanners and inertial

measurement units (which account for bumps in the road and other motion
particulars), accuracies compared to traditional ground-based surveys are
between 0.05 feet to 0.30 feet depending on the range from the scanner, GPS
signals at the time of collection and whether survey control is used to register
the point cloud. Sanborn’s Peterson says point density can range from spacing of
as little as a tenth of a foot to as far apart as a user can space them and still
model the features needed. “Point density is directly related to the equipment
used and the speed you are driving,” he says. “The faster you drive, the farther
your point spacing will be. Mobile scanners can collect from 10,000 points per
second to 200,000 points per second. Typical route survey-point spacing is
approximately every one foot or less.”

Mike Frecks, LS, principal of Omaha, Neb.-based Terrametrix, put a mobile

system to the test over 11 days and in six cities last summer. Having scanned a
Kansas interstate to an RMS (root mean square) error of six-hundredths of a
foot, Frecks says, “Traditional surveying would’ve taken two months. Static
scanning would have taken two weeks. With mobile mapping, it took two hours.
That’s eye-opening.”

The Terrametrix trek tested the system for both public and private clients in the
dark of night, in an urban canyon, along a four-lane divided highway with bridge
structures, and on a previously run span of complex road captured with static

2 of 5 3/13/09 9:53 AM
 http://www.pobonline.com/copyright/BNP_GUID_9-5-2006_A...

scans. Each project proved the system to be robust, rapid and extremely
accurate−survey-grade accurate−to 6.2 millimeters. And this at speeds of up to
40 mph.

Still, mobile scanning answers to another critical element of the profession--the

high risk of surveying transportation routes.

Out of the ‘Red Zone’

As headlines continue to trickle in on the death of surveyors

and other road technicians, engineering and surveying firms
are seeking new technologies to protect their workers. DEA’s
Reedy says that mobile scanning nearly eliminates the need
for the company’s surveyors to be on mainline freeways.
A point cloud and “[Now] we’re able to drive along with the flow of traffic and
3D model of the collect the data just as well as we would with a tripod setup,”
2009 Inaugural he says.
Parade route in
Washington, D.C.,
captured with an According to Frecks, “The only time anybody is out of the
Applanix vehicle is to do ground truth shots. The mobile scanner keeps
LANDMark mobile people out of the ‘red zone’ (the traveling public’s right-of-way
mapping system.
or 18 feet of a rail) on any project. On railroads, you don’t
Images courtesy of
Sanborn and have to foul the track. On interstates, you don’t have to walk
Applanix, a out into traffic at any time. There’s no reason ever to be out
Trimble Company. on the traveling surface. On the shoulders, yes, we do have to
be on the shoulders for a short amount of time to do our
QA/QC shots. But, if you go to a city with base stations online, we don’t even get
out of the truck. We download the base station data right off the local
[network].”

Commuters and businesses benefit from mobile scanning, too, since there are
fewer distractions for travelers and fewer transportation disruptions from closed
lanes.

Expensive Yet Adoptable

So is mobile scanning the be-all and end-all for civil surveys?

Not exactly, and Reedy is quick to point out that mobile
scanning isn’t going to replace static scanning or more

3 of 5 3/13/09 9:53 AM
 http://www.pobonline.com/copyright/BNP_GUID_9-5-2006_A...

conventional technologies. “It’s going to enhance [it],” he

says. Take, for example, data collection of an overpass for The 3D Laser
replacement or widening. “It [mobile scanning] is good Mapping
enough for the bridge clearances for a preliminary analysis, StreetMapper
system used by
but final design will require traditional survey methods,” he Terrametrix. Photo
explains. Mobile scanning would, however, provide the client courtesy of
with needed data on a roadway profile. Terrametrix.

Enhancing civil surveying tasks may, in turn, enhance the bottom line of many
surveying businesses. It has for DEA, according to Reedy. “We’re surveying
things that we would never survey before just because it was too expensive,” he
says. “Competing technologies--low-flying aerial photography and helicopter
LiDAR for corridor mapping--obviously have benefits [by not having] the
restrictions of the roadway. But, they’re also costly to mobilize. [Mobile
scanning] is fairly inexpensive to mobilize. You also don’t have the
environmental restrictions other than rain. For us, the economic benefit is that
it’s new business. We won’t be doing traditional static scanning along 10 miles of
highway anymore.”

Frecks points to the new opportunities that are open to surveyors who offer
mobile scanning services. Improvements in post-processing software and
communication between the components (such as under bridges) in real time
lend further credibility to implementation of mobile scanning. “With mobile
scanning, we are at or below traditional survey costs and we are at survey-grade
accuracy,” he says. “Plus, everything [that’s] visual above ground, we can handle
in the ‘red zone.’”

While some training is required to properly execute mobile scanning, many

surveyors will be secure in knowing that they have most of the skills to plug this
technology in place--many are already familiar with the appropriate GPS
procedures, and some are also familiar with inertial measurement unit
components. For those seasoned in mission planning and acute to the traffic
flows of the areas to be scanned, implementation will be that much more
streamlined.

Of course, surveyors who have not made the jump to static scanning will most
likely find mobile scanning requiring a bigger learning curve. Those working for
aerial firms will have an easier time because the work flow for mobile scanning is
similar to their existing work flows. But even those surveyors who don’t adopt
mobile scanning in full (systems cost between $300,000 and $750,000) can still
participate in this rapidly growing field by providing control and quality control

4 of 5 3/13/09 9:53 AM
 http://www.pobonline.com/copyright/BNP_GUID_9-5-2006_A...

check points for mobile capture and by performing supplementary topo services
where mobile scanners are inhibited by line-of-sight obstacles. “Surveyors
should at least consider providing static scanning or mobile mapping as an
option for their clients, even if they don’t own the equipment,” Peterson says.
“They can still be the client’s expert on all resources and methods of how to best
provide for the client. That may mean in-house capabilities or contracting
resources and administering them for the client’s benefit.”

Bigger Than GPS?

Today, Frecks and his team focus on civil transportation

infrastructure, including highway and railway. And his
mobile scan system is his main tool. “Personally, I think that
mobile scanning is going to change surveying more than
The GPS did,” he says.
Ambercore/Terrapoint
TITAN system used To date, DEA has collected about 500 miles of data via
by David Evans &
mobile scanning. The company’s focus will remain on
Associates with the
Seattle skyline in the transportation and rail jobs, but it hopes to add large-site
background. Photo facilities such as airports to its roster.
courtesy of DEA.
“It’s all going to link up to, in the future, intelligent
transportation systems,” Reedy says, “and having a good three-dimensional
inventory of your assets is one of the key components. This is obviously a way to
collect this data efficiently.”

Lieca N. Hohner
lieca.hohner@sparllc.com
Lieca N. Hohner is the chief editor at Spar Point Research LLC in Danvers, Mass. She can be reached
at her email or through the Spar Point Research Web site at www.sparllc.com.

5 of 5 3/13/09 9:53 AM