LiDAR Mapping of 600 km Railroad for Canadian Geomatics Solution Provider

The Client – Leaders in Geomatics Solutions

The client is a house of scientists, experts, and leaders in the field of geomatics solutions. With a mission to assist industries in achieving high-quality geospatial data, the Canadian client provides a range of time-tested pre-defined services or tailor-made solutions. They are the specialists in processing and analyzing areal data captured through LiDAR sensors and specifically equipped cameras.

The client has a premium range of services such as the acquisition of geospatial data, LiDAR data processing, precision agriculture, photointerpretation, and more. Apart from these high-value services, they also conduct industrial training sessions on photogrammetry, LiDAR YellowScan equipment, and thermal & multispectral cameras.

Precise LiDAR Mapping Requirement by the Canadian Client

The client contacted IndiaCADworks (ICW) through the website, and after learning about our geospatial service capability, they wanted to partner with us for a LiDAR mapping project. They had the LAZ satellite images of close to 656K railyards that they wanted us to measure and highlight. The deliverable involved the length of the railway track and highlighting of the entire railroad accurately for their future reference and analysis.

Project Challenges - Strict Quality Parameters to Achieve the Required Accuracy Level

The nature of this project demanding high accuracy level, the client had set a maximum tolerance range of three meters while measuring the railyard segments. Our geospatial team had to calculate even the third-level decimals of the scaling of the LAZ images to obtain the required accuracy. Apart from this, the precise and consistent highlighting of the rail tracks in the images was another challenge that was achieved by the team through a meticulous approach and QC.

UAV and LiDAR Mapping Process Followed by IndiaCADworks

Apart from the required accuracy level, ICW had to deliver the project within 45 days. So, the team decided to follow a stringent process to keep everything in line with the internal and external delivery dates:

1. After understanding the requirement, our team did a trial for measuring and highlighting a 2.2 kilometer stretch of the railroad. There were a few line matching and classification issues that we fixed based on the client’s inputs.
2. ICW formed a team of 8 civil engineers who were highly skilled and experts in the geospatial domain to handle the project.
3. The team analyzed the LAZ satellite images and, based on the reference pointer, scaled the images.
4. Our team measured the distance keeping the tolerance level in mind, and the data was checked after each milestone.
5. The measured rail tracks were marked appropriately, and the final images and the measurements were sent to the client.

Takeaways - Highly Precise LiDAR Mapping with Not Even a Single Rework

A happy client was the best takeaway for IndiaCADworks from this high-value LiDAR mapping project. For the client, it was a significant cost saving as ICW engaged the most skilled civil engineers on the project to achieve the accuracy levels. Moreover, it was a mutually beneficial engagement for both parties to take the partnership further with a running contract.

If you have a similar project or want to explore our specialized civil engineering services, contact us for a free consultation and custom quote.