National Survey Solutions (NSS), formerly known as Northern Surveying Services, have been in the surveying and construction industry for over 40 years. Based in Tasmania, Australia, NSS has typically been involved in large civil construction projects across the state.
NSS has always invested in state of the art equipment and 3D laser scanners have been no exception. When Rod Brumby, Registered Land Surveyor and 3D Scanning Specialist previously from Sinclair Knight Merz, joined NSS in early 2014, he had seen the benefits of 3D laser scanning and its deliverables for many years. Since then, NSS have been carrying out many 3D scanning projects across Tasmania and the East Coast of Australia.
When RIEGL announced their new ultra high-performance VZ-400i 3D laser scanner, NSS was on the forefront to purchase the new system. The various options that the VZ-400i gives the user were definitely the selling point. With its speed, accuracy and range, the VZ-400i only increased NSS’ capabilities, particularly in its mining and civil construction applications. More often than not, NSS utilise the new scanner for large mining sites to capture the topography quickly and efficiently with a fast turnaround, particularly with RIEGL’s new firmware updates with the on-board registration capabilities.
In particular, one of the large quarries NSS undertakes surveying volumes for stocktake twice a year. Due to the quarry being adjacent to an airport and CASA requirements, UAVs are not allowed to fly within this zone. The VZ-400i is utilised to capture the quarry in under a day’s work when mounting the unit to the roof of the vehicle. Once the data is registered onboard the unit, it is only a matter of modelling the point cloud and calculating volumes for the client with a very quick turnaround. Due to the nature in which NSS capture this data, the client has now requested that all quarries are to be captured using this methodology.