Virtual Surveyor Adds Local Coordinate System Functionality in Latest Release of Smart Drone Surveying Software

This means users can easily define a local coordinate system and work with new and existing survey data in those systems. 

“Virtual Surveyor users can now project GPS-based drone imagery and LiDAR data directly to the local coordinate system used in their mining or earth-moving project without going through a third-party package,” said Tom Op ‘t Eyndt, Virtual Surveyor CEO. “This greatly enhances the convenience of survey projects where not being able to work in local systems is a major bottleneck.”

The Virtual Surveyor V10.2 package is an incredibly robust tool for creating surveys from drone images and LiDAR point clouds for use by engineers in construction, surface mining, and excavation projects. The package includes surveying capabilities, photogrammetric functionality, and topographic design tools in a series of progressive subscription plans differentiated by Time for past, present, and future 3D terrain surveys.

Local coordinate systems are crucial for many of the mining, excavation, and construction projects in which Virtual Surveyor is used. Due to practical and accuracy requirements, these activities typically establish custom reference systems instead of using a world or national coordinate system adopted by an authoritative geodetic organization.

Authoritative, publicly available world coordinate systems are useful for large-area referencing. However, they introduce distortions that are unacceptable for engineering projects typically done in smaller areas, necessitating the use of local reference systems.