New Maptek laser scanners boost underground survey

Wednesday, August 26th, 2015

Underground mine operators can improve site safety and survey productivity with recent releases from Maptek.
The updated I-Site 8200 laser scanners feature new tools and compatibility with Maptek Sentry surface tracking and Drive continuous survey systems.

The I-Site 8200SR is a fast and accurate solution for cavity surveys. A carbon fibre boom extends up to 10 metres into a tunnel or over a void. The 500-metre range scanner can also be used for surface applications such as stockpile, shed and silo scanning.

The I-Site 8200ER has a longer range at 750 metres and provides the best outcomes for mapping underground drives and tunnels as well as surface stockpiles.

A new backsight workflow allows survey resection by triangulating three coordinated targets to find the current real world position of the scanner.

Maptek Managing Director and chief executive of global operations Peter Johnson said making Sentry compatible with the latest I-Site laser scanners means more mining operations can benefit from the system.

‘Sentry combines laser scan data with sophisticated software to track and analyse surface movement over time. Any movement can potentially lead to failures, so early warning is vital.’

‘Researching ways that Sentry could function in low light led to development of an intensity-based grayscale image,’ Johnson said. ‘This benefits our underground customers as well as improving visibility for open pit applications at night.’

‘A great feature of Sentry is it provides absolute tracking. You can take the scanner away to perform another task and return it to the Sentry setup without having to start measuring from scratch,’ he said.

The Sentry update includes a rollback feature for easier data analysis, as well as translation and other enhancements.

The I-Site 8200 series laser scanners are also compatible with I-Site Drive for continuously surveying from a moving vehicle.

Johnson said I-Site scanners helped with site safety through Sentry as well as providing conformance reporting using I-Site Studio, Drive and PerfectDig. Laser scanning provides a flexible solution for general survey and volumetric tasks, and the point cloud data can be used in geological face mapping and geotechnical analysis.

The I-Site 8200SR and I-Site 8200ER are available now.

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