Lidar capture / Gravel pits and stockpiles
Gravel pit and stockpile mapping across Alberta
Stockpiles, pit faces, slopes, stripped soil and disturbed area measured in one visit, so the year end inventory, the activities plan update and the reclamation design all start from the same surface.
Why it matters
Alberta counted about 900 Class I pits and more than 1,500 Class II pits as of 2018, and every one needs a reclamation certificate. Class I pits work to an authorized activities plan under the Code of Practice for Pits.
We capture the whole pit with aerial lidar and RGB in one mobilisation. Our long range lidar payload is rated by its manufacturer at 3 cm vertical and 4 cm horizontal accuracy (RMSE) at 120 m, and every pile is measured in full from the air.
What you get
- Stockpile volumes by material, in cubic metres and in tonnes using your density
- Bare earth surface and contours for activities plan updates
- Disturbed area boundary and an as mined against planned comparison
- Slope and pit face measurements for safety and reclamation grading
- High resolution orthomosaic from the same flight
- LAS or LAZ, DXF, CAD surface and a PDF report
Why lidar on a pit
Uniform gravel texture, shadowed faces and grassed berms are hard ground for photogrammetry. Lidar measures the surface directly, so volumes on vegetated overburden piles stay accurate.
Capture reference
- Outputs
- Volumes, surface, contours
- Volume report
- Per pile, per material
- Rated accuracy
- 3 cm vertical at 120 m
- Cadence
- Monthly, quarterly or yearly
- Captured with
- Lidar plus RGB, one flight
- Coverage
- AB base, BC and SK direct
How it works
See how we do the restHow we measure a gravel pit in one flight
Read the steps
- One flightOne flight captures the whole pit: benches, floor, haul roads and every stockpile.
- Surface and contoursThe points become a surface model coloured by elevation, with contours for the pit floor and benches.
- Stockpiles by materialEach stockpile gets its own base and volume, labelled by material. The figures shown are examples.
- Since last visitComparing against the last visit shows where the pit face has advanced and how much material was excavated.
- Pit reportStockpile volumes by material, excavation since the last visit, contours and a surface for your engineer or reclamation plan.
Example scenario
Illustrative, to show the workflowA county public works department runs a 25 ha gravel pit north of Edmonton with six stockpiles and a stripped topsoil berm. It needs a year end inventory and an activities plan update before reclaiming a mined out cell.
- Ground control is set and the pit is flown in a morning.
- The point cloud is classified to bare earth and each pile is clipped against a base surface.
- Volumes are reported per pile and compared to the previous year.
- The mined out cell is mapped with slopes and contours for the reclamation design.
Deliverables in this scenario: Volume report, CAD surface, contours, orthomosaic, slope map.
Have a site like this? Send the location and what your team needs out the other end, and a scoped quote comes back, usually within one business day, with the positioning method and delivery window stated.
Get a quote for this workCommon questions
Answered plainlyHow accurate are drone lidar stockpile volumes?
Our long range lidar payload is rated by its manufacturer at 3 cm vertical accuracy (RMSE) at 120 m, with ranging accuracy of plus or minus 10 mm. Every pile is measured in full, so the figure rests on the whole surface rather than a handful of shots.
Do you meet Code of Practice for Pits requirements?
We provide the topographic data, maps and as mined surfaces used in activities plans. The plan itself is signed by your consultant or registration holder.
How often should a pit be flown?
Monthly or quarterly for sales reconciliation, yearly for audits, and before any reclamation phase.
Sources: Land conservation and reclamation guidelines for pits (Alberta.ca)
