looks like technology is really advancing fast this is starting to look viable.
It sure is, just 12 months ago a LIDAR doing 50m or more was over $500. The software to process LIDAR point clouds is coming down. The advantage to the system you referenced is that is's a turnkey system so you don't need to muck around with it.
Having said that it's amazing how close you can get with a bit of know how and time. The RTK GPS is a good example. I've got 1 RTK L1 GPS for under $50 and a few hours of my time. This will shortly be scripted and will take no longer than pushing a button a few hours after capturing the data. Try buying a professional L1 RTK GPS, just hire for a day is many $100's. Sure I only get 10cm accuracy (and if I work at it with an M8N GPS I can achieve 1cm from what I can see - so the same as the professional units).
The same will happen with LIDAR, take Lightware's short range scatter LIDAR. It accurately maps out powerlines at a range of 40-50m - this is for collision avoidance but could be adapted to ground mapping quite easily as that is what it is doing. I think they are now offering a 150m version.
in regards to the mining industry, well a 20km long pit is just too big to use drone technology
so the bigger mines that can pay $$$ to buy a drone have at their disposal better different equipment, RTK GPS, laser scanners, machine guidance with RTK or the final paying a professional aerial photography firm to fly the entire operation- this is usually done on a yearly basis- but depends and this costs around 20k
I can see the troubles of doing a 20km stretch, but looking at how I'd do it I'd break it down to 20 smaller sections. Would take most likely 3 to 4 days to fully cover it (assuming only flying when the sun is high, etc). I can see where a plane or helo would be cheaper and easier from a Management perspective and do it all in one flight. As you go higher up there is the need to increase the camera's resolution or use a higher grade LIDAR or use a RADAR, all of which would add to the cost. I'd be interested to see the economics of the two compared with modern technology.
I'm wondering how well the market is saturated at this point in time? I have plans but not sure how viable they are, so I'll be doing a part time venture until I take the leap full time to it.
I used to be a mine surveyor at this pit in central QLD
https://www.google.com.au/maps/place/22%C2%B019'31.9%22S+148%C2%B014'24.3%22E/@-22.325535,148.2378963,1074m/data=!3m2!1e3!4b1!4m2!3m1!1s0x0:0x0
Please tell me you didnt need to do it the old fashioned way by hand, that would have been rough. Would have been an interesting prospect to fly that from a survey perspective.
I now work for a much smaller mining company with many smaller pits in lots of places, this makes the drone surveys more attractive, but you then run into lots of other restrictions like controlled airspace, the DTM is good accurate to 50mm in a hard rock environment- just where the vegetation is, is where unknowns are and the accuracy is lacking like trees that are 15m high are displayed in the DTM
Controlled airspace is a lot smaller than people think, the 3nm limit around aerodromes only applies to those on two lists that airservices Australia manages (alot less than people think), but even if it is you can apply for an exemption for a specific flight (of course the advance notice can be annoying) so they can risk assess and publish a NOTAM for it if safe.
this gives a bit of info regarding lidar and capabilities
http://www.aamgroup.com/services-and-technology/aerial-survey
A good read, I'll have a deeper read a bit later.
Regards,
Chris
