Case study / Central and northern Alberta / Volumetric measurement
Standardised recurring stockpile mapping across aggregate sites
Month end mapping of two aggregate yards to a fixed capture specification for more than five years, so inventory figures compare period to period.
The challenge
Aggregate inventory only means something if this month's number was produced the same way as last month's. Varying altitude, overlap or flight pattern between visits introduces differences that look like material movement and are not.
The site
Aggregate operations at Thorhild and Clyde, north of Edmonton, captured at the end of every month for an inventory reporting platform and sustained for more than five years without a missed date.
Equipment and method
RTK photogrammetry on automated nadir coverage with standardised overlap and flight patterns applied identically at every site and on every visit, so outputs are directly comparable across both time and location.
Airspace and safety
Rural sites with routine operating coordination around active equipment. Winter captures are planned around the forecast and the aircraft matched to conditions, which is how every month end through five Alberta winters has been flown on schedule.
Deliverables
Site orthomosaic and terrain data per capture, delivered into the client's reporting workflow on a recurring schedule.
Result
A consistent, repeatable dataset across both sites and every reporting period. More than 120 captures have been delivered on this program, every scheduled date flown and every delivery on time, which is itself the evidence that the standardisation holds.
Project statistics
- Program length
- 5+ years
- Captures delivered
- 120+
- Sites
- Thorhild and Clyde
- Cadence
- End of every month
- Pattern
- Standardised nadir grid
- Sensor
- RGB, RTK tagged
- Comparability
- Across sites and periods
Named references are provided during scoping, so you can speak directly to a client who has run this kind of work.