GSaaS solution chosen for National Highways

Delivering high quality business information to Select Surveys through Getmapping's innovative GSaaS Platform.

"A unique combination of high-resolution imagery and point cloud data collected from both the ground and the air, delivered through a single platform, to provide a detailed analysis of the target locality and a comprehensive assessment of the surrounding area.”

Background

Select Surveys are an approved supplier to National Highways (formerly Highways England), providing high quality solutions that help them monitor, maintain and improve England’s road infrastructure. They were tasked by Graham Construction to produce a topographical survey for two new proposed bypasses in Mark’s Tey, near Colchester and Margaretting, near Chelmsford.

The requirement was to survey around 8 line kms of road, with cross sections every 10m. Select Surveys were looking for a viable alternative to time-consuming and disruptive traditional topographical survey techniques, whilst still maintaining the high levels of detail and accuracy required for a project of this nature.

They required a ‘comprehensive’ view of the whole area, including the surrounding embankments and verges close to the carriageway. They also needed the ability to undertake full topographic feature extraction post capture and the flexibility to combine the results with other topographical data.

Together, Select Surveys and Getmapping identified the optimal solution for the project.

The Solution

Working collaboratively, Select Surveys and Getmapping developed a tailored solution for the project, bringing together two best of breed services: a unique combination of high-resolution imagery and LiDAR (point cloud) data, collected at both ground level and from the air.

High density point cloud data and high resolution 360° panoramic ground level imagery of the carriageway were captured using Getmapping’s Mobile Mapping solution - a faster, cheaper and safer alternative to a traditional topographical survey. The terrestrial data was complemented by an aerial LiDAR survey to infill the areas adjacent to the carriageway, removing the risk of potential environmental impact from an intrusive ground-based survey.

“The solution was highly accurate and comprehensive, including areas away from the carriageway with minimum disruption or environmental impact.”

Richard Waller, Technical Manager, Select Surveys

Conclusions

Getmapping’s GSaaS platform presented the perfect solution to Select Surveys' challenge:

• Accurate and Detailed: The combined solution provided a comprehensive ‘ground up and air down’ view, whilst exceeding the specification of the project in terms of both detail and accuracy.

• Super-fast: rapid mobilisation, and highly efficient data collection to tight timescales ensured that the solution delivered the results to Select Surveys in just two weeks, a fraction of the time of a traditional survey.

• The Mobile Mapping project was rapidly mobilised and the survey was completed in one hour. The data processing with features extraction took one week per site.

• The Aerial LiDAR survey was mobilised in one hour and the survey completed in only ten minutes. The LiDAR data processing and existing CAD infill on verges and embankments took three days per site.

• Cost-effective: the overall solution was significantly cheaper than a traditional topographical survey.

• Safe: captured from the safety of a vehicle and an aircraft, the solution removed the need for staff to be deployed on the road in a live traffic environment.

• Zero disruption: there was no need to close any roads or manage traffic flow during the survey.

• Minimal environmental damage: the surrounding areas were captured unobtrusively from the air.

Select surveys recognised Getmapping's unique prowess in the air and on the ground to enable an innovative 'ground up' and 'air down' solution to meet the specific requirements of this project.”

Helen Wattie, European Sales Manager, Getmapping