The latest I-Site point cloud processing tools focus on the everyday needs of mine surveyors for fast, accurate volumes, conformance reporting, geotechnical analysis and CAD design.

According to Maptek, the new CAD design tools include user-friendly preferences for snapping to angles and points. Other in-demand items include auto registration and alignment of scans, complex surface modelling, waviness analysis for geotechnical modelling and analysis.

Jason Richards, global business development manager for laser imaging solutions at Maptek, commented: “Surveyors are under pressure from all departments to quickly and safely survey active mining areas. This is on top of recurrent stockpile volumes and active mining face updates.

“With I-Site Studio 6 they have access to geotechnical analysis, conformance reporting, CAD and geology tools in one package. Surveyors can respond to virtually any request, with accurate results and timely reports that are used by all mining departments to meet operational objectives.”

Survey data plays a vital role in safety management programs. Accurate information is mandatory for identifying areas of structural weakness that can affect mine planning and operational decisions.

Maptek stated that new and enhanced geotechnical options in I-Site Studio offer powerful analysis tools for understanding structural relationships. Creating solids from discontinuities helps determine wedge shape, size and volume. Dynamic adjustment extends discontinuities to assess the potential persistence across pits or structural domains.

Stereonet improvements include new tools, preferences and workflows. A direct link between the interactive stereonet and 3-D views allows users to select discontinuities in the 3-D view window in order to highlight them on the stereonet. 

Kinematic analysis has also been overhauled in I-Site Studio 6. Defaults for failure types have been added, and failure zones are automatically shaded to highlight areas of potential failure on the stereonet. Dragging and dropping the discontinuity of the slope face onto the kinematic slope orientation fields automatically displays failure zones.

New CAD tools allow users to create CAD design outlines direct from 3-D point cloud data, designed to help streamline everyday survey and engineering tasks.

“Snapping preferences streamline CAD workflow and allow users to digitise from real world to CAD environment,” said Richards. “It’s easy to draft haul roads and ROM pad layouts, add strings for stockpile shadow zones and create CAD footprints of structures on site.”

A new 3-D complex surface modelling tool produces a 3-D surface that honours the original point cloud data, conforming around walls, curves and tunnels, as well as creating another surface by averaging the point set.  I-Site Studio 6 also contains new tools for defining geological contacts direct from 3-D point cloud data.

The software package is designed to make the most out of the output from up-to-date terrestrial scanning instrumentation and faster survey processes. Mining professionals can thus generate reliable, repeatable, high-quality reports, Maptek said. Customisable templates allow images and documents to be added so that one click generates a report that can be passed to production. 

In addition, a new volume reporting tool applies a base surface, stockpile surfaces and polygons to generate volumes for multiple regions in one pass. Design conformance reporting allows users to compare a design surface to as-built and other surfaces, summarising sections, underdig, overdig and percentage of volume variance.