Omar E. Mora California State Polytechnic University, Pomona
Paul Stoiber California State Polytechnic University, Pomona
Zoltan Koppanyi The Ohio State University
Benjamin J. Vander Jagt PixElement
Doug Pluta WestLAND Group, Inc.
Rich Josenhans WestLAND Group, Inc.
Matt Okubo WestLAND Group, Inc.

14D

Earthwork quantities play an important role in decision making and are used extensively on civil engineering projects. Implementing innovative solutions that minimize cost, allow for flexibility, and lower the risk of injury are major reasons to explore alternate options in earthwork quantity estimation. Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) are emerging as an alternative tool for mapping and computing earthwork quantities in small to medium projects. The investigation of the dense point clouds and surface models created from imagery acquired by these systems is required to understand the limitations and accuracy of the derived product. For this reason, an analysis was performed to test and evaluate the capabilities of UAS based mapping for earthwork quantity estimation and surface reconstruction. In this study, the UAS image based results are compared to a high-resolution surface model that was acquired by Terrestrial Laser Scanning (TLS). Initial results indicate that UAS based volumetric computations for earthwork quantity estimation can compete with scanning techniques, where the difference in volumes result in a percent error of 0.4% between the TLS and UAS based outcomes. These results demonstrate that in some cases, the UAS based mapping may be a more cost effective alternative for surveying earthwork projects.

14:45 Stockpile Quantity Estimation Based on UAS Imagery, Omar E. Mora