Mother Nature Inside Looking Out

There’s an old weather saying by surveyors, “rain before seven… done by eleven”.   In my days of field surveying we welcomed a rain day.  It meant the day off!  Speed of data acquisition acquired from TMLS technology today allows us to virtually topo at the desktop, rain or shine. 

In March, the Terrametrix team ventured to American Samoa to document 126 miles for telecommunications placement. Temperatures are 88 – 76 degrees every day with a chance of rain somewhere on the island.  You can’t scan in the rain when the surface is shiny as the laser refracts off the surface into space. So, when it rained we just moved to the sunny side of the island. But, we still got an unusual time off due to weather.

American Samoa sits tropically west between Hawaii and New Zealand, or as we learned, in the tsunami Pacific Ring of Fire. In all my weather related experiences as a surveyor; tornadoes, blizzards and thunderstorms, the tsunami warning was the first time I was concerned about my elevation. It was not a day off on a tropical island to look forward to.  Consider, we had just completed several days of scanning and targeting areas of the remaining ruins from the 2009 tsunami that killed 22 residents in American Samoa's capital of Pago Pago.  Seeing this destruction first hand, plus watching CNN reports of the recent Japan earthquake, gave renewed respect for the power of Mother Nature. So, when the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued a tsunami warning for a wide area in the Pacific following Friday's 8.9 magnitude earthquake off Japan's east coast you can bet a day off wasn’t my first thought.

Japan is now working to rebound from its devastating earthquake and tsunami in rebuilding the region of Tohoku using the technology of Google mapping and modelling tools. It is clear that the collaborative technologies of TMLS and Google are laying new groundwork in the planning process that also reduces risks from future disasters. Integrated civil design and engineering software ideally suited to civil engineering and transportation projects like Bentley’s In-Roads, GEOPAK and TerraSuite’s plug-in to MicroStation can be used on all types of civil projects, by users with different levels of expertise, for a range of project needs. Because these products were developed and are supported by practicing civil engineers and professional surveyors they are more than a rainy day application.

Adapting to the Elements

To say that we surveyors come out of hibernation during the winter thaw is a mild overstatement of our role.  After all, the nature experience is why we chose this profession.  For me, it is these first two weeks in June in the Midwest that has special “back to nature” meaning for me.  This is a time when you can still shoot line through the trees.  Brome grass and other cool weather foliages are green before ripening and still laid down due to the snow pack. It is a time prior to the bugs and being outside temperature-wise is a pure pleasure.  Where did that go this season in Nebraska?

After enduring our strange spring, with high temperatures ranging from 96 degrees to 52 degrees since May 9^th, we now seem to be pushing the 90’s for the past week. This of course has brought with it torrential rains, flooding and severe tornadic thunderstorms.  April and May flew by as well with varied seasons as we travelled across the country for rail, highway and bridge projects.  What we learned as scan technicians and what we knew as surveyors is that the equipment you have must be as committed to the elements as the crew that runs it.  This season we have adapted new features and eliminated the “not so easy on your back features” to our scan truck to make the seasonal challenges more manageable. Although the StreetMapper360 system we have fitted with additional cameras weighs only about 200 pounds and it’s installation could be done in a few minutes, lifting it onto the roof became a process we wanted to avoid.  It now sits securely in the covered bed of the scan vehicle and hydraulically lifts through a skylight in the topper. Once on project site the scan system can be ready for data collection in just 2 minutes. Having the equipment out of harm’s way during destination traveling is more gas efficient (our green initiative) and less obtrusive during down time.

Another item we have found very useful is the adaptability of the StreetMapper 360 system which allows us to put the system on many different platforms, ie, boats, hy-railer etc, for a wider use of capabilities. Track time is valuable. This mobile platform makes “on-the-track… off-the-track” logistics more mobile. It is one rail certified Terrametrix scan technician collecting data and their track master driving a hy-railer.  On at a crossing… off at a crossing… at project start up and end. Terrametrix has taken the best of what was proven in the past, evaluated the issues that were cumbersome to speed and accuracy of the project and still maintained it’s versatility.

I guess if you think about it, we have created our own weather system inside the truck where every season can be whatever the AC or heater is set at. Every day at Terrametrix is now June!