Most quarry survey specifications require a breaklines survey. Virtual Surveyor allows you to create a lightweight line survey from your drone data. You can then export your line survey as a commonly used CAD format and upload it to mining and quarrying software.
Overview
- Import Your Drone Survey Data
- Create Line Survey Items
- Organize Your Survey Items
- Export Your Line Survey
- Tips & Tricks
Import Your Drone Survey Data
Create your project and drag and drop your drone survey dataset (Orthophoto + DSM) into the Project View.
Create Line Survey Items
Like a surveyor in the field, measure breaklines and points.
- Use the Polyline tool from the HOME tab to add breaklines.
- Activate the Guided Breakline Tool (Only available in the Peak plan) to make the line selection creation much faster.
- To complete your survey, you can quickly add Points to the terrain.
- Use the Point tool to manually place Points where you need them.
- You can also use the Triangular or Rectangular Point Grid to add multiple points with one click within a boundary (Only available in the Ridge and Peak plans).
Organize Your Survey Items
You can use the Layer Manager to give a structure to your project.
- Create and manage layers in the Project View
- Rename and renumber Project Items or move them from one layer to another.
- For example, you can create layers to group crest, top of bank, bottom of bank, etc.
Use the styling options in the HOME tab to set the shape, size, and color of your survey items.
Export Your Line Survey
To use your survey in mining or quarrying software, export it as a .dxf, .xml, or .shp file.
- The Export Survey tool is available in the EXPORT tab.
- The Export feature works as "what you see is what you get" or "WYSIWYG".
- The layer's structure and the Project Item's naming are included in the data with the export.
Tips & Tricks
- Virtual Surveyor also helps you generate a lightweight surface model from your quarry drone data.
- Even if a TIN surface is not required in your final deliverable, it may be helpful to generate it within Virtual Surveyor.
- It allows you to check your line survey and validate the quality of your model.
- Enable all your survey items and click on Triangulate All to generate the surface.
- Displaying contour lines may also help you assess your survey.