Down To Earth

Drone LiDAR Point Cloud from Down to Earth, the Great Pit


As seen in Down to Earth, the Great Pit.

LIDAR DATASET FROM THE GREAT PIT AS SEEN IN DOWN TO EARTH

If you've watched Down to Earth, the Great Pit, then you might be interested to take an interactive look at the point cloud featured in Episode 3.  This data was collected using the mdLiDAR3000DL aaS flying at 5 meters per second and an altitude of 70 meters above the Great Pit. Click the image below to go to the point cloud viewer.

“Down to Earth” is the surveying reality series from Microdrones that shows how real surveyors collect data and turn it into real deliverables, despite challenging conditions, rugged terrain and possible dangers.

The 3 episodes from The Great Pit take viewers on an exciting journey alongside engineering and surveying firm SWECO. They’ve been tasked with surveying and mapping the historic Falun Mine, in Sweden, once the world’s largest copper producer, to identify movement or settlements that could lead to a collapse.

The terrain at the Great Pit can be very difficult and dangerous to reach for a land surveyor and would be almost impossible to complete using traditional surveying methods. This is why the team from Sweco utilized the mdLiDAR3000DL aaS. Fully integrated with the highly precise Riegl miniVUX‑1DL payload, this system allows the surveyor to safely collect highly accurate data.

The Great Pit in Falun, Sweden

The Great Pit Data

The flight occurred over the Great Pit “Stora Stöten” at the Falun Mine in Sweden and was collected by the mdLiDAR3000DL aaS flying at an altitude of 70  meters at a speed of 5 meters per second. The duration of the flight was approx. 95 minutes completed in 40 legs with 50 % overlap. The point density was up to 900 points/m².

To create the point cloud, the data from the Great Pit was first processed with mdInfinity Trajectory Processing and Georeferencing modules. Then further processing by the team at Sweco with Terrasolid Tmatch and Tscan which allowed for strip adjustments, removing outliers and ground classification.

With the successful completion of the mission and collection of the data, the team at SWECO can now  provide an accurate DTM of the Great Pit to their customer and compare it to previously collected data to look for shifts in the terrain, erosion and other surface irregularities that could reveal possible danger zones. Then in 2 years’ time, they will revisit the Falun Mine to update their data, using drone surveying solutions from Microdrones.

If you or your business would like to learn more about processing and visualizing Drone LiDAR Data sets for your surveying jobs, CLICK HERE to speak with one of our representatives.