Integrating Survey and Reality Capture into the Infrastructure Lifecycle

JAKE MAXWELL: Well, good afternoon, everyone. I guess how many people is this their first time at AU? So we've got quite a few of us in here. So how many people are involved with the fuel data collection and surveying scanning or scanning UAVs? OK, most of us, right on.

I kind of thought I was all technological advanced and everything but sounds like everyone's flying UAVs or scanning or doing something that. Super excited to be here. Need to give a shout out to a couple of the employees at ML&P that can't make it, our lead drafter Aaron Mason and our lead underground locator and reality capture specialist Forrest Roy spent a bunch of hours helping out with presentation, gathered a bunch of data and hope you guys enjoy it.

The keynotes have been great so far and really had a fun time listen to all the different technology and everything. The one thing I've noticed is pretty consistent is they don't touch on the survey aspect, and I think that's kind of the core that isn't getting addressed and really put across a lot of the time. Starting with the best, most accurate control is going to give you a tighter product throughout the life of the project.

My name's Jake Maxwell. I'm the chief surveyor for Municipal Light and Power. I've been surveying about 15 years. I've worked for surveying firms, multidiscipline engineering firms, now the electric utility. Majority of my work experience has been in remote Alaska, throughout the state. I've worked for BLM projects, FAA aeronauticals, DOT, [INAUDIBLE] borough private projects.

I've used Autodesk software since early 2000s in high school. Anchorage has a really good program, and it gets a lot of their students at a young age involved in Autodesk software and definitely recommend it. That experience with Autodesk software has been a shoo in to the surveying profession.

Munic Light and Power is located in Anchorage, Alaska. We have about 30,000 customers. Our service area is about 20 square miles. We serve the central business district, three hospitals and two universities. We're a vertically integrated utility, meaning we buy our own gas, control our own generation, distribution, perform in-house engineering, construction, and maintenance.

ML&P last year, voters decided to sell an ML&P to a competing electric utility. Transaction is in process and will be completed in about two years. For people who haven't been to Alaska, it's pretty big. It's a pretty big state. We have more coastline than the entire continental US, approximately 1.2 people per square mile. Alaska spans about 2,400 miles east to west. We're nearly the size of Western Europe.

Alaska also has unique survey challenges. We have logistical challenges, limited road access. Terrain varies from barren tundra, alpine mountains, to dense rainforest. Skills and techniques are required for surveying in each of these different terrains and weather challenges. Head back there in a minute.

Here's the learning objectives today. I'd like to show how involving survey on every portion combined with reality capture enables fast accurate design and records. Leveraging technology, we're able to save time and money. We can have fun while we're doing it.

Projects start by coordinating with a scope with engineer. Here we can decide the method of capture for the project. Property and easement rights are assessed, record rent infrastructure is researched. Next we survey property, do the topography, utilities, then draft and deliver the data to the engineers. When an engineering design is complete, the data is exported and loaded to our data collectors so we can stake it. Property and design work, like I said, is also at stake.

As-built data is categorized and uploaded into our GIS records. Utility projects are unique because they always connect to existing infrastructure, and they will be connected again in the future. That's why it's so important to have accurate records.

Our engineering support group consists of survey, right of way, GIS, drafting, and subsurface locating. Engaging the expertise of each of these groups and the use of the technology we can produce the highest quality product. Our close coordination and frequent communication helps us get the most amount of accurate data as possible.

Although the fundamentals of serving have not changed, the capture methods have changed significantly. Today's surveyor must be well versed in many different tools and procedures. I've already seen major technological advances in a limited time in the industry. I'm excited to see what new technologies will be implemented in the future. After spending some time on the expo floor today, I'm impressed in seeing how many methods of capture there are out there, and excited see where it's going to go with the augmented reality in the future there.

We support all phases of projects. Having survey crews engaged with the phases of projects helps ensure consistency in data. The Alaska construction season is about five months. Our projects range from small customer connections to large multimillion dollar undergrounding projects. The survey section is also responsible for ensuring land rights for all projects.

In Alaska there's two seasons, winter and road construction. Crews cannot wait for survey. Road permits and closures are typically on a tight deadline. Some jobs can cost up to $20,000 an hour with crews and equipments.

Alaska is the land of the midnight sun. In summer months we can get up to 19 hours of daylight. This project that we're watching right now we worked 36 hours straight to get it completed so the road could be opened up, paved, and driven on by Monday. This video was taken approximately midnight. They're setting that.

So we're getting the shoring box prepared for setting a large concrete vault placing there. Having multiple one-man survey crews and the proper equipment to support them is essential for keeping up with our workload. For the urban surveying that we perform we utilize multiple independent crews for all phases of the project.

Another system that increases our efficiency and saves costs is the TopNET live system from Topcon. This is a cellular based RTK system that uses several base stations in the Anchorage area. Crews can arrive on site, perform a check shot on known control to check residuals, and immediately get to work without setting up an RTK base. This is also very cost effective, only needing one GPS receiver per crew. This system can be implemented wherever reliable cellular connection exists.

Another Topcon product that we use is the cloud based enterprise software that also uses the cellular connection. Data can be transferred between the field and office. I can have crews out there retracing property, upload the point files up to the cloud, I can download in the office, perform various computations, and orientate property, export a DXF, bring it back up to the cloud. They can download it, and stake that line work, and find additional property or other features they can stake. This eliminates go-backs and ensures proper supervision of survey comps.

Here's a screenshot of the talk on magnet software. This is actually showing combining GPS and conventional data. The data is exported into a CSV and brought into Civil 3D. There are other formats that can be sent out such as Google Earth KMZ files. This can be helpful for sending out to customers needed.

Having a survey field to finish feature code library, we can automate the drafting of line work and symbols. We also upload a library onto the field data collectors to show the line work as collected. This greatly reduces blunders and crossing strings. On the far right is an example of our code sheet. We try to keep it simple enough that it can be folded and can be placed into the survey vest pocket.

The old way of drafting survey data is drawing point to point and manually switching to the proper layer and line type. Symbols are copied and pasted into a drawing and are not dynamic, they need to be changed. Prior to using a feature code library, it's estimated that one hour in the field would be equivalent to one hour in the office. By using the feature code library, we estimate a 75% reduction in survey drafting time.

We use built in functions in Civil 3D's survey database to recognize the codes and the strings from the CSV file. Working with the drafting department, we have emulated the line types and symbols needed to minimize changes that need to be made after the drawing leaves the survey department. So next we're going to show uploading the CSV file using the survey database.

I've had firms tell me before that they don't need this product. Their old way of doing things is sufficient, but from my experience it takes a little bit of front and time to set this up. But once it's set up, all your line work's drawn, it's on the proper layers, your symbols are dynamic, as you change scale it'll adjust the proper size.

Then here's an example of a typical survey drawing produced by our department. This is the typical deliverable for drafting and engineering divisions. It takes only a minimal amount of time to get from the previous slide to this product.

This is an example of our engineering drawings showing the planned construction area of the same project that we just saw. The stake out line work is exported in a DXF format, stake out points are created. The files are then uploaded for field crews to stake out. Having multiple methods of data collection and knowing when to implement them, we can enhance and complement our design information. Aside from our typical survey data collection methods of GPS robot toll stations, we utilize tripod based laser scanners, unmanned aerial vehicles, and ground penetrating radar.

Using fixed wing UAVs, we can cover a large acquisition area at a very low cost. Our workflow involves surveying property locations above and below ground utilities, then set horizontal and vertical control points. Maintaining a common coordinate system throughout the process ensures the highest level of accuracy. UAVs have an advantage over conventional photogrammetry by flying low and slow. They can produce high resolution orthorectified imagery very easily.

Typical flights take place in early spring and late fall when the snow and leaf coverage is at minimal. Unlike traditional photogrammetry, cloudy days are preferred to eliminate shadows. The imagery is then digitized in slower winter months. Here's another example of one of our UAV flights showing the camera positions and the photos taken on the project. The point cloud is also used to gather elevation data, and combining the data into a photo mesh we're able to have an accurate product to design off of.

AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE]

JAKE MAXWELL: Pardon me?

AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE]

JAKE MAXWELL: We combine it with a-- all of Anchorage has a lidar point cloud is-- that was the beginning slide I started out with. So we can combine it between other UAV-based imagery. Here's our lidar compared to our UAV acquisition data. We can get an incredible amount of accurate information and can utilize the data for any project in the area of collection.

This is a project we flew last fall using UAVs. We were able to capture a larger area than requested scope just in case the project expands. This particular project has many tall buildings in it and would have required lots of time conventional surveying backyards-- time we do not have during the busy construction season. The imagery not only helps with digitizing, but it also helps with the planning and design efforts.

For more complex and smaller sites we use multi rotor UAVs. This flight is of a substation where it can be dangerous to enter. Flying this type of project reduces exposure to crews. Using survey targets we can bring the reference imagery into our survey drawing.

AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE]

JAKE MAXWELL: Before the fixed wing we do preplan flight paths. [INAUDIBLE] Depends on the size of the project. Scanners are incorporating both the design and as-built workflows.

This is a substation that was scanned and post processed using ReCap software. Due to the complexity of the project, it would have taken a significant amount of time to conventional survey all the features. Using multiple scans stitched together, we're able to show the complete site including inside and-- inside the control buildings.

This increases efficiency for engineers and other personnel to immediately inspect and check clearances. They can do it all from inside the office. We're able to crop out the vertical features to show footprints of the buildings and structures on the site.

In order to have the most accurate scans that are relative to our survey project, we need to start with the most accurate control as possible. Here's an example of assigning survey control using the ReCap software. Start a new project, set our coordinate system, go in between sticker targets and depending on where we're at.

This one we're actually using mag nails, we just spray paint the point number there. It's real easy to pick the sign control using the mag nail. Upload the TXT file with the survey coordinates, and then we can stitch them together.

For areas where limited records exist, we rely on ground penetrating radar to be our eyes under the ground. A grid is surveyed on the same coordinate system as the rest of the project. On this particular project, we're trying to locate a conduit that was placed over 50 years ago to be intercepted. It was interesting digging into here because we had a concrete duck bank that we had to chisel into. We spent a lot of time on it, but were able to locate the end of the pipe using this method.

Typically, GPR data is just shown in 2D slices. Bringing this data into ReCap, we can analyze the information in 3D. We compare where known utilities run from the survey drawing to anomalies that we can see in the GPR data set.

Here's a case study that we had this fall. There was a project that encountered a problem. We were trying to get into a culvert that was placed 26 years ago. When digging at the location where the locate disk was marked, we were unable to find the culvert. Looked like everything was in place, we found our locate disk.

We're digging down, we found it at 3 foot down. Continued digging down to about 9 foot, still couldn't find the end of culvert. This was near the end of the project, would have caused a major delay, and would have cost significantly more if we had to bore across the road. When the culvert was not found, we called our GPR specialist for assistance. Within a day, we had the field data reduced and a new position to look for the culvert.

So we pretty much would've been shooting in the dark if we didn't have that GPR data set. So we're able to do a new asphalt cut, find where the culvert was crossing, bring our facilities through here. We also-- here's a scan of our field book records that we keep. Scan that area and then it didn't meet our clearance for depth requirements so we had to slurry cap the whole remainder of it. And probably won't be seen again till next big project in that area.

Using independent survey crews, we were able to gather survey grade as-builts features as they placed. The Survey department closely coordinated with the utility locators to survey locates as they're marked. In our downtown setting, there's typically not much room for new utilities to be placed. Since survey crews are on site for the construction, we can remark the locates as asphalt is pulled and marks disappear. This avoids dig-ins and waiting for locates to come back to the site.

Our surveyors are also responsible for marking out trench line right of way easement locations. We cataloged the duct banks and profiles and as-built shots locations. Even though a trench can be staked in a straight line once it's opened up and conduit is placed, having survey grade records helps with maintaining an accurate GIS map for future work.

Here's an example of going vault to vault through an alleyway. It's a project that we completed this fall. This is overlaying the scan data . The notes are scanned with a project and we're able to research for when they are connected again on future projects.

Here's an example of an as-built survey drawing that's brought into Civil 3D then uploaded to our GIS maps as survey grade as-builts.

AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE]

JAKE MAXWELL: They were pipe networks, yeah. Here's a video bringing the design as-built and the scan data all combined into a single drawing. We're able to take the R records and compare the data sets, and we can bring GPR, we can bring the ReCap data in there. And we can isolate the information that we need and that we don't need.

So when we're completed, this is pretty much all that we see. Just we set large vaults and you just have a couple of manhole covers in the road. And everything gets asphalt over, and pretty much the end of our projects. I guess any questions? Yeah?

AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE]

JAKE MAXWELL: Yeah, like especially with the [INAUDIBLE] scans, tripod based scans, there's a lot of clean up because when we're out there during the construction there's usually a lot of cranes out there. There's a lot of cleanup personnel around there. You're able to kind of limit and see what's projecting from the ground level, but probably for the last project I showed it's maybe a day of cleanup. And then using lidar, we just find common points and we're able to clamp that lidar to the rest of our data. Yeah?

AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE]

JAKE MAXWELL: Correct.

AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE]

JAKE MAXWELL: No, we get definitely a better product using laser scans for getting elevations off of, but that top-down imagery we're able to really save a bunch of time for the design side of things for digitizing. And that works really well for our workflow. I realize some people-- like if you're doing like curb and gutter you're going to want those tight tolerances for flow and everything before electrical utilities. Having that top-down view, you can really plan where it needs to-- I haven't seen it go.

AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE]

JAKE MAXWELL: Yeah, we had to manipulate the data. We had to export it as a text file and modify the intensities to change the colors. And try to change it like that, but position wise we lay out the grid and we hit-- we just placed mag nails on each side of the grid. So then we can reference that, bring it right in there. But yeah, having scan data, the GPR data, and our design survey all on the same coordinates, you can bring everything right together.

AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE]

JAKE MAXWELL: Correct.

AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE]

JAKE MAXWELL: Yeah, correct. Yeah.

AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE]

JAKE MAXWELL: So we did those scans with the ferro focus, I think the 120, and we have it at the medium res because the high res just takes too long for us. So they're probably about 15, 20 minute scans, and then it also takes a 360 photo. So we're able to zoom into that 360 photo and isolate the point with it. Pardon me?

AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE]

JAKE MAXWELL: Yeah, I think it's pretty close to that. Yeah.

AUDIENCE: So you did all-- you used ReCap to pull the scan policy in?

JAKE MAXWELL: Correct.

AUDIENCE: OK. And so that's how you will usually coordinate something now to get all of it set up because we use ferro scene to do that, [INAUDIBLE]. But you're saying you use ReCap as far as getting the coordinates laid in on the [INAUDIBLE], is that right?

JAKE MAXWELL: Yeah, because we can put it in on whatever coordinate system that we want it. And we have to export the TXT file to meters. Just kind of one of the requirements for the ReCap, but then you can convert it to US survey foot after the fact. But we just do that conversion in magnet.

AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE]

JAKE MAXWELL: Yeah. We have a GPR expert that we rely on, and she has two different antennas and two different wavelengths. And we typically don't see too much-- we haven't seen too much water on our projects so far, but it's able to see the difference between a concrete duct bank and pipe networks.

AUDIENCE: How many points do you need for survey points to be able to do a reference in [INAUDIBLE]?

JAKE MAXWELL: We try to get as many as possible. We do a lot of scans inside like our plants-- generation plants and everything. Ideally, depending on your site if you got five, six setups, you probably want almost double that in scan control. One thing that we have noticed with the ReCap software is on real long linear projects occasionally we'll get a little bit of drift on the end of it. So if you can almost treat it like a traverse you can have a better product.

AUDIENCE: That small substation [INAUDIBLE] do you ever take [INAUDIBLE] inside, or do you just [INAUDIBLE]

JAKE MAXWELL: We just went up above it. [INAUDIBLE] Yes. We got obliques too so we could get the profile of buildings and everything.

AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE]

JAKE MAXWELL: Yeah, I know Topcon's been working on there UAVs to work next to high voltage lines. Their Intel-- [INAUDIBLE] yeah.

AUDIENCE: Seems like a pretty nice survey budget for a [INAUDIBLE] company [INAUDIBLE]. Is it always like that, since you came on, or [INAUDIBLE]

JAKE MAXWELL: Yeah, so I've been working for ML&P for two years, and before I came on it was very much one crew. And trying to implement technology and break it off in one man crews, a lot of the managers definitely saw the advantage of getting better as-built records. We're able to gather so much more information and kind of went with using UAVs for those large topo projects, we're saving a bulk of money doing that, digitizing in winter months using a lot less overtime. So that also affects buying equipment.

AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE] I guess they saw the value in the as-builts. Sometimes it's hard to convince [INAUDIBLE]

JAKE MAXWELL: Yeah, you know, in our competing-- or our other sister utility acquired us. They don't do that, and they have a lot of issues of trying to locate those ends of pipes. A lot of actor time, a lot of crew time getting out there, a lot of unintentional strikes. But if we have those records, even if we have spare conduit and we know where that line is, we can locate it, and spray it out, and save our assets from getting damaged.

AUDIENCE: Think it might be an advantage being this vertical company where you're doing all the work instead of subconsulting, subcontracting?

JAKE MAXWELL: Yeah. And having that all in house, keeping everything all on the same coordinate system, we definitely see an advantage of overlaying that data and having multiple data sets, multiple capture methods.

AUDIENCE: About how many registered surveyors are Alaskan?

JAKE MAXWELL: In Alaska? There's I want to say 370 maybe. And I think-- but I believe I said the average age is 59.8. Nationally it's 58, so yeah, it's going to be interesting in the future seeing where the surveying profession goes. Because as the older surveyors start retiring, there's just not enough surveyors to fill the footprints of the other ones. So think it's a national issue, though. Yeah?

AUDIENCE: It looked like you were creating line work for your scans. Are you just tracing line work, or are there automated ways [INAUDIBLE]

JAKE MAXWELL: So that's what we want to see in the future. We're mainly digitizing the line work. We've had limited success using InfraWorks of getting that curb and gutter, but that's going to be the next big innovation for surveying. Once they get that automatic feature code recognition, you know, that's going to be a major time saver. But right now it's a lot of just tracing.

AUDIENCE: Are you planning on automating that with some C# with [INAUDIBLE]

JAKE MAXWELL: Automating the feature extraction?

AUDIENCE: Or importing automated import or the import and export. Either one with a [INAUDIBLE] ATI.

JAKE MAXWELL: So we automate all the line work using that feature code library, and we do that bringing the CSV file in. I'm not sure if that's the question you're asking, or--

AUDIENCE: Yeah, but a little bit further. Like you do one [INAUDIBLE] and it just all brings in the CSV, and it does [INAUDIBLE]

JAKE MAXWELL: Yeah, so that's just-- so we take a survey template, just a DWT, save that as a DWG, and then we map it to-- under the prospector under survey database. We just create a new database, and all those symbols and the feature code library is just kind of already there in the background. So then it'll recognize those codes and bring them in that way. So it is time consuming initially setting that up, but once it's set up, like I said, it's probably 75% reduction time of drafting.

AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE] You use the [INAUDIBLE]

JAKE MAXWELL: I'm not familiar with what that is.

AUDIENCE: Kind of a 3D sketcher, 3D model.

JAKE MAXWELL: No. Is there any other slides that anyone want me to go back to?

AUDIENCE: Yeah, I'd like to share the picture of the guy like six feet deep-- [LAUGHTER]

JAKE MAXWELL: Yeah, that was me.

AUDIENCE: We got a working [INAUDIBLE] they're always bragging about how much snow they get, so.

JAKE MAXWELL: See where it's at.

AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE] Question. Do you use [INAUDIBLE]

JAKE MAXWELL: Pardon me?

AUDIENCE: Can you use them in [INAUDIBLE]?

JAKE MAXWELL: Yeah. We do, it's almost kind of like a cartoon. It's--

AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE]

JAKE MAXWELL: Yeah, so we've been using it with limited success. It's a lot of still manual clicking, and trying to-- it sees light poles and calls them stop signs. So I think they're the furthest technology that we've found to recognizing the curb and gutter. So it can classify trees, it can classify buildings, but it just needs a little bit more work to get there.

AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE]

JAKE MAXWELL: No.

AUDIENCE: No? Without reference to your environment [INAUDIBLE]

JAKE MAXWELL: Just it's a lot of time for someone-- yeah, we don't do that. But maybe someone in the future will.

AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE] that picture of you on down [INAUDIBLE].

JAKE MAXWELL: I'm standing. Yeah, I'm standing in that particular photo.

AUDIENCE: Are you in a ditch or something?

JAKE MAXWELL: Pardon me?

AUDIENCE: Are you in a ditch?

JAKE MAXWELL: Yeah.

AUDIENCE: How many of those points did you have to take? Dear God that's a lot of points.

JAKE MAXWELL: So now with the efficiencies that we have-- this was taken a number years ago-- we don't do this anymore. [INAUDIBLE] Yeah, this is a DOT project where-- yeah, go around out there and find some property. Yeah?

AUDIENCE: So US survey feet has to be set in ReCap, but also instead of [INAUDIBLE] importation, you can otherwise hear the [INAUDIBLE] with your [INAUDIBLE]

JAKE MAXWELL: Yeah, and with Civil 3D 2016 it didn't have US survey foot. So-- [INAUDIBLE] Yeah, and that's been updated in 2017 Civil 3D to now include US survey foot. But yeah, we bring everything in as unitless and then we'd have to control it. But now with that kind of patch worked out, everything's a lot smoother.

AUDIENCE: Do you keep your ReCap project in meters, or [INAUDIBLE]

JAKE MAXWELL: We change the settings. Unfortunately, the only input is in meters, though. Even when you set the project, it still wants to have that meters in a text file.