Mine Survey and Monitoring with Trimble SX12 and Trimble Access
Point Clouds are quickly becoming the go-to data source for underground mining projects due to their density and high level of detail. Collecting and analyzing this data in an efficient and productive manner is crucial for mining surveyors, where every delay in production has critical financial implications. The Trimble® SX12 scanning total station, in conjunction with Trimble Access™ field software, makes for the perfect combination. Providing efficient and accurate survey workflows for every step of your mining project.
Read on to see how the SX12 and Trimble Access can boost your productivity in the field.
As-built comparison
One of the most important jobs of the mining surveyor is to capture the as-built status of shafts and excavation areas for design, inspection, and analysis. This process is necessary for drill pattern design, safety, and engineering sign-off before any further work can continue. With production screeching to a halt until the inspection is complete, speed is clearly key. By using the SX12 and Trimble Access, users can efficiently collect detailed point clouds and instantly compare them against design surfaces or other point clouds in the field. This enables surveyors to rapidly assess the current status of the excavation and provide stakeholders with concrete analytics for fast decision making.
Users can import IFC, DWG, TTM, or RXL design surfaces to accurately compare the as-built conditions to specific shaft or tunnel engineering designs. Deviations are intuitively visualized and custom tolerances can be configured to highlight the exact areas of concern for your specific project.
Shotcrete inspection
New to Trimble Access v2021.11, users can now compare scans to previously collected scan data directly in the field. This significantly streamlines workflows like overbreak/underbreak checks by enabling users to make fast, data-driven decisions without needing to go back to the office. Today, surveyors must collect data in the field, process it in the office, and then finally return to the site to identify and fix areas that are out of tolerance. Trimble Access gives users the ability to quickly compare scans in the field and instantly report deviations from engineering specifications and subsequently correct them to keep the project moving forward. With less time between data collection and engineering verification, your project can move forward quickly and efficiently, saving you precious time and money.
In-field reporting
Not only can scan comparisons be useful for as-built checks, they’re also highly effective for change-over-time analysis and volume checks. By consistently scanning areas of interest, like stockpiles and excavation sites, you can quickly compare previous data sets to get an in-field estimate of the relative change in quantity and export streamlined inspection reports. For more comprehensive analysis, like computing raw volumes, this data can be remotely synced back to Trimble Business Center™ (TBC) software. Here, you can clean the data, conduct in-depth analysis, and generate more comprehensive reports to share with site engineers and other stakeholders. This is a great way to capture real-time estimates of production activity and keep better track of how much material is moving on-site in a given area.
By empowering mining surveyors to make quick decisions in the field, the SX12 scanning total station and Trimble Access field software provide a comprehensive solution for every stage of the mining process.
You can also view our Mine Survey and Monitoring webinars