reporter47

Geosystems

The Magazine of Leica Geosystems

REPORTER 47

You are now holding the largest-ever “Reporter” in its 47-issue history. It is a statement of Leica Geosystems’extended competence in advanced geomatic solutions. Overthe previous year, our company has developed into themost comprehensive vendor of solutions for recording,visualising and modelling spatial data. Continuing the trendof earlier years, the first business year since “going public”has brought a 19 per cent increase in sales to 642 millionSwiss francs – above the industry average, and a figure thatis set to be trumped once again as the 2001/02 financial year

draws to a close at the endof March. This success storyreflects opinion in professio-nal circles, where we areperceived as progressingfrom strength to strength inmeeting real-world

requirements. Such impressions are frequently the result ofwide-ranging comparative tests, of the kind conducted bythe British Ordnance Survey as part of their procurementprocess for GPS equipment. We are proud to have won thislargest-ever order in the history of GPS surveying, and ofbeing able to continue our geomatics developmentprogramme in a strategic partnership with this international-ly renowned institution.

As you can see from the stories in this issue, the latest addi-tions to Leica Geosystems’ competence potential are CyraTechnologies, ERDAS, LH Systems and Laser Alignment.Their leading products for 3-D laser scanning, remote acqui-sition, photogrammetry, machine guidance and constructionsurveying now join our existing product lines in six user-oriented divisions within Leica Geosystems. In addition, wehave strategic partnerships with AED Graphics, NovaLIS,

Geocom Informatic andLantmäteriet for landregistry and land infor-mation systems (LIS). Ourgeomatics customers thusbenefit from a closer-knit,extended value chain in the

world of geographic information systems (GIS). I wish youhappy reading of this Reporter issue, with its fascinatinginsights into the new world of Leica Geosystems.

Hans HessCEO Leica Geosystems

2

Welcome to the vendor with the fullestchoice of geomatics solutions

I M P R I N TPublished by: Leica Geosystems AG, CH-9435 HeerbruggCEO: Hans Hess

Editorial office: Leica Geosystems AG, CH-9435 Heerbrugg,Switzerland, Fax: +41 71 727 46 89 E-Mail: [email protected]

Editor: Fritz Staudacher; Editorial assistant: Teresa Belcher (Bt); Layout andproduction: Niklaus Frei

Publication details: The Reporter is published in English, German, French,Spanish and Japanese three times a year.

Reprints and translations, includingexcerpts, are subject to the Editor’s priorpermission in writing.

The publication is printed on chlorine-freepaper made by environmentally compatible processes.

© Leica Geosystems AG, Heerbrugg, April 2002, Printed in Switzerland

Editorial deadline for next issue: 30th May, 2002

For the first time since goingpublic, Leica Geosystems

invited its 6000-plusshareholders to the company’s

general meeting.

Our products are developed,manufactured and marketed

in an environmentally-friendlymanner. Our environmental

report shows major reductions in pollutants.

You can find Leica Geosystems

at numerous exhibitions,

congresses and road show

presentations in your region.

In addition, you can find

information on our national

websites or on

www.leica-geosystems.com,

www.cyra.com,

www.disto.com,

www.gis.leica-geosystems.com,

and www.laseralignment.com.

Please visit us.

3

Contents

7How to upgrade an

oil rig with CYRAX

Cover:

The highly sophisticated GIS

of North Sydney 16Page4Ordnance

Survey

with Leica

GPS500

Visit us at the FIG/ACSM-

ASPRS Congress in

Washington

22Control measurements

with Leica GPS along

the Danube

28The highest peak

of the Americas

with 6962 metres

10Pin-point measuring over

long distances: the unequal-

led Leica Geosystems

principle of phase measure-

ment with the new reflector-

less Leica total stations

4

Ordnance Survey buildsbright future with Leica GPS

7

Cyrax 2500 provides detailed pipe plan

8

The STAR organisation ofLeica Geosystems andPartners

12

Leica Geosystems setsinternational innovation standards

13

Five thousand years in the‘field of vision’

14

Airborne Laser Scanning compliments LH Systems’palette of solutions

24

Final steps to finish for the largest “Emmentaler” Tunnel

25

No mobile phone signal dead spots thanks to ERDASremote sensing and imageprocessing software

26

Sensational decathlon worldrecord

27

The newest DISTO generation

29

Bavaria Surveying Authoritycelebrates its 200thanniversary

30

Radio link closes gap betweenfield TCA1103 station and office

24

4

Following the start of the new millennium, Leica Geosystems

was able to announce in March 2001, a multimillion pound

GPS contract, combined with a partnership agreement with

Ordnance Survey (OS) – one of the most internationally-

renowned surveying and mapping authorities. With first-

class technological performance and the evidence of many

advantages in reliability and accuracy following demanding

testing procedures in harsh environments, the Leica GPS

Systems 500 ranked first amongst the tested GPS products

available on the market. Using state-of-the-art Global

Positioning System (GPS) equipment, Ordnance Survey will

revolutionise map making.

”This is one of the most important strategic agreements thathas been signed in the long tradition of British surveying and mapping,” said Mark Concannon, Marketing ManagerEurope within Leica Geosystems’ Surveying and EngineeringDivision. An appropriate place to sign the agreement provedto be the historic Royal Observatory, Greenwich. Ian Wilson,OS-GPS Manager said: ”This is a perfect venue to bringtogether a history of astronomy with the latest space satellitetechnology.” The Observatory is also the home of the 0°Greenwich Meridian, where the basis of all modern naviga-tion and positioning was first calculated. ”Initial testing of theequipment has been successful in nine offices within fourtrial areas – Droitwich, Harlow, Rotherham and Perth,” saidVanessa Lawrence, Ordnance Survey’s Director General andChief Executive. Following initial equipment testing andtrials, the project was due to roll out to all of Ordnance Survey’s seventy field offices, from Inverness to Truro, fromthe Summer of 2001. Now hundreds of GPS Systems 500 arein use by Ordnance Survey all over the British Isles for thesurvey of map detail and several projects have been initiatedto introduce GPS into the map revision process.

Ordnance Survey builds bright future with Leica GPS

Above: Phil Harris (left), theOS Surveyor responsiblefor London and Ian Wilsonfrom OS Head office in Southampton, use GPS tosurvey the whole of GreatBritain, and in all weatherconditions.

Vanessa Lawrence, GeneralDirector of Ordnance Surveyand Hans Hess, CEO of Leica Geosystems with aLeica GPS500 in the RoyalAstronomic Observatory, Greenwich.

Above: Tim Hall, from OrdnanceSurvey measures at the EdenProject – an immense green-house landscape under geo-metrical domes. He uses a Leica GPS with RTK correctionsdelivered by GSM phone linkfrom his Truro office some 27 kilometres away to revise1:2500 mapping.

The pioneering team of Ordnance Survey and Leica Geosystems will compile solutions of the future by meansof this partnership.

5

Work in numerous locations has proved that the very best isrequired to be able to cope with every situation in the fieldand that Leica Geosystems has the experience to provide aconsistent range of GPS products and convincing solutionsin all situations and environment conditions. This is true notonly for all aspects of accuracy, reliability, ease-of-use, com-patibility, and cutting-edge technology but also for customersupport and fast technical service.

Winner of a demanding international tender

”The decision to partner Leica Geosystems follows arigorous assessment procedure, including the extensivetesting of equipment by Ordnance Survey along with fact-finding visits to various production sites in Europe and theUnited States,” said Vanessa Lawrence, Ordnance Survey’sDirector General and Chief Executive.

Hans Hess, CEO Leica Geosystems, said: ”This collaborationconfirms our ability to provide not just the best equipment,but also the ability to provide the best solutions. We havemoved away from a purely customer-supplier relationshipand now have a partnership.”

Vanessa Lawrence complemented: ”The agreement meanswe can improve efficiency and accuracy, increase the speedat which we can update our database, and produceenhanced data for all our customers. Our data is so vital toboth the public and private sectors that a recent indepen-dent study calculated that around £100 billion worth of economic activity in Britain is dependent on it. It is essentialthat our information is of the highest quality and as afoundation for this we need to use the most accurate techni-ques available. GPS equipment and computerised mappingtechniques allow us to do this.”

With the completion of the second Severn crossing, Wales now has asecond gateway to the national road system. To complete this task,Senior Surveyor Stewart Voyle from the Cardiff Office, used the latestGPS equipment from Leica.

‘The Armadillo’ is the name given to the Sir Norman Foster-designedScottish Exhibition Centre in Glasgow. With such an important addition to the banks of the River Clyde, OS-Surveyor Mike Huntersets about updating 1:1250 mapping with the Leica GPS500.

Before deciding on Leica Geosystems, OS surveyorsexamined the manufacturingplants of their potential partners,here with Leica Geosystems inHeerbrugg.

Representatives of the inter-national press, science, and Survey professionals discussthe future of GPS and GIS.

6

Most modern national topographic database

All GPS information collected is added to the National Topographic Database (NTD). This is held on computer atOrdnance Survey’s Southampton head office, featuringdetails as fine as pavements and the exact location of publictelephone boxes. The result is a vast electronic map cover-ing the whole of Britain, replacing around 230,000 of itsmost detailed maps. The whole project is establishing a newseamless information base and will offer definitive,consistent and maintained referencing of around 400 millionman-made and natural landscape features in Britain. Theyinclude everything from forests, roads and rivers down toindividual houses, garden plots, and even phone-cells. Data,Ordnance Survey already used by a wide range of publicbodies and users in the private sector, from controlling theflow of urban traffic to managing property portfolios.

High productivity gains with Leica GPS

The system implemented is allowing all surveyors ofOrdnance Survey to use GPS to update maps on the spot.The equipment delivered by Leica Geosystems proves to behighly productive. One person alone is able to measure allpoints and to check the data directly on the hand-held com-puter. Remote, inaccessible points close to the GPS are defined reflector-less with a DISTO™ or a Leica ReflectorlessTotal Station (TCR). ”By using Leica Geosystems’ GPSequipment we will be able to update our national digitaltopographic database more efficiently, more accurately andfaster and will be in a position to offer our customers betterproducts,” said Vanessa Lawrence. The twenty-first centuryhas just begun!

Finland and OrdnanceSurvey Ireland also defineLeica GPS500 as ”their” preferred systems.

Within the last fewmonths, both Finnish andthe Irish surveying andmapping authorities havemade the decision in favour of Leica GPS500.In addition, OSi will manage its database withLeica Geosystems’GeoVault Data Manager. It provides an automated,cost-efficient and securemanagement anddocumentation system ofdigital image data andgeospatial information.

In order to measure the ”London Eye” – the 130 metres high ferriswheel – OS-Surveyor Ian Baldwin from the Harlow Office, uses aLeica GPS500 with RTK-Technology with a Fujitsu pen computer.

Wind force as the future’s pollution-free energy! Here, Tim Hallmakes checks with a Leica GPS500 on Bears Down Wind Farm inCornwall. The 16 wind turbines can generate enough energy to supply 7500 local homes.

They know the British Isles indetail and keep the NTD map fortheir customers current aroundthe clock with GPS: regionallyresponsible Chief SurveyorsSteve Eyre, Ian Hughes and Bob Scott.

With the help of the

Cyrax™ 2500 laser scanner

and Cyclone™ software,

Chevron Corporation, one

of the world’s largest

petroleum companies, was

able to save considerable

time and money in their

recent GOMBU Eugene

Island 252 Revamp Project.

The upgrade involved thereplacement of the process

vessels on an offshore project in the Gulf of Mexico.

Cyrax combines a laser scanner with PC analysis andmodelling software. In just a few minutes, the system wasable to acquire and present, in three dimensions, the physical structures of the platform. Data was converteddirectly into a 3D AutoCAD model and an accurate CADdatabase and from this, mechanical drawings to supportstructural and mechanical engineering design wereproduced.

The project required a shut down in order to connect theassociated piping and valve tie-ins to the process pipings.The Cyrax 3-dimensional data could be immediatelyincorporated into spool drawings, allowing more accuratepiping connections and fewer field welds. The total shutdown was estimated to be 72 hours, but was finishedin 40 hours, due largely to the highly accurate data pro-vided by Cyrax. This time saving translated to an increasedrevenue of approximately $500,000.

In the next stage, the two new larger and higher capacityprocess vessels were installed while the platform wasunder normal operating conditions. The Cyrax datauncovered interferences and conflicts that would have beenmissed until the vessel’s field installation, therefore savingfield re-work time. All the piping connected right, the firsttime and there were no interferences or field errors.

7

Cyrax 2500 provides directly detailed pipe plan

Shrinkwrap from Cyrax Scan

Introducing Cyclone 3.1 & CloudWorx

Finished model is ready to be exported to AutoCAD or Microstation

Major Software Announcement Looks to Slash Office Costs & Make Topo Surveys Easier

Cyra has announced a major software upgrade plus anew software product for processing large point cloudsdirectly within AutoCAD and MicroStation (and manyapplications that run on these platforms). Nine new datasheets describe these products and their advantages.View the datasheets in the products section ofwww.cyra.com.

8

Surveying & Engineering The Surveying and Engineering division is the largest of the new Leica Geosystems divisions, offering a variety of Terrestrial PositioningSystems (Theodolites, Surveying Total Stations, Electronic DistanceMeasurement, levelling instrumentsincluding numerous measurementaccessories), which are complimentdby GPS systems for surveying withthe different models of the LeicaGPS500 series. In addition, applicationsoftware is designed for integratedsolutions for infrastructure and land-surveillance systems. The LaserAlignment laser products aredesigned for construction andbuilding professionals, providingdiverse types of building lasers up to machine controlsystems. The President of the Surveying andEngineering Division isClement Woon,Heerbrugg (Switzerland).

GIS & MappingThis Division concentrates onthe rapidly-growing markets ofgeographical informationsystems (GIS) and cadastralsolutions. Leica Geosystemscan offer GPS/GIS datacollection as well as the know-how and expertise from strategic LIS partnerships. Thedivision can supply digitalairborne data acquisitionsystems, including Lidar of LH Systems as well as theimage processing and remotesensing software of ERDASwhich are based on aerial data acquisition and satellitedata, editing and visualisationof digital land models.

Bob Morris, Atlanta(USA), leads thisdivision.

New Business (Cyrax™)This division focuses onnewly emerging markets inthe area of spatial informa-tion and 3D data. Topproducts include the laserscanner Cyrax 2500 andCyclone, the 3D software ofCyra Technologies. The President of this Division isErwin Frei, Oakland (USA).

Consumer Products(DISTO™)This division focuses oncustomers in the buildingand constructionindustries, who want touse the DISTO™measuring technology in their work. The DISTO™ is a smalllaser meter, which allows precisemeasurement of distances from afew millimetres to over 100 meters,in a few seconds with the simpletouch of a button. The DISTO™ isavailable also in department storesand via specialised hardware outlets.The President of the Consumer Pro-ducts Division is Klaus Brammertz,Heerbrugg (Switzerland).

Industrial MeasurementThe IndustrialMeasurement divisionenables metrology inthe aircraft, vehicleand ship buildingindustries and

research areas to measure largedesign features and componentsaccurately to one hundredth of amillimetre. This information canbe carried-over and processeddirectly in CAD systems. Itsproduct range includes Laser- and Laser/Radar trackers, digitalindustrial measurement systemsand high precision total stations.In addition, comes a modern suiteof software, which is compatibleon an open platform with manyCAD products. This division is ledby Walter Mittelholzer,Unterentfelden (Switzerland).

Special ProductsThis division comprisesdefence technology and component manufacture. TheSpecial Products segment,led by Linus Zoller, offerscustomers innovativesolutions in observation, orientation and range-finding.

The STAR organisation of Leica Geosystems – customer-orientated competence in six divisions

Today, Leica Geosystems provides the largest spectrum of solutions for the capturing, visualisation and modelling of spatial data via the

customer-orientated STAR organisation. Each of the six Divisions is oriented to the value chain of customers and their tasks to create and

to provide fully integrated solutions.

9

The GIS partnerships of Leica Geosystems – Internet-capable cadastral solutions with high flexibility

Through active participationin AED Graphics AG, LeicaGeosystems has expandedaccess to the rapidly-growing markets that createand administer cadastres viageographic informationsystems (GIS).

AED Graphics AG, Bonn isone of the first certified companies in Germany thatis authorised to create national digital land registersolutions. Emphasis is on the development of standardsoftware solutions for realestate ownership, planningand surveying, environ-mental planning, topical cartography as well as forutilities.

The aim of the strategicalliance includes the furthersimplification and design of array data entry, creationof cadastral information aswell as ensuring that all localcadastral solutions haveflexibility. The combinationof AED Graphics softwareand Leica Geosystems’modern survey systemsalready enables customersto undertake cadastral andGIS projects in an easydialog field-office-field. Theobject is a rapid advance-ment into the next gener-ation of the official Germanreal estate property cadastralinformation systems(ALKIS*).

In the last year, Leica Geo-systems increased its share-holding in the Canadian soft-ware enterprise NovaLIS upto 42%. The aim of this collaboration is the creationof future-oriented land register and land infor-mation solutions (LIS) forthe North American market.NovaLIS was created 1992and partly-acquired inDecember 2001 with Halifax-based TerraSoft, who bringsin computer-assisted massdata management technolo-gies.

NovaLIS has just presentedits Land development Office8.1 – a perfectly integratedGIS solution. In the last fewmonths, tasks have been tosupply the GIS and manage-ment system for York County (South Carolina) andto the city administration ofNew Port Richey. In January,Molpus Timberlands mana-gement decided to acquire acombination of NovaLIS products to technically andcommercially optimise theGIS administration and economic use of large foreststands.

The modern softwaresolutions of the Geocom Informatikenable land registerand GIS creation as well as data exchange over theInternet.

The dynamics of the GIS markets and national land information systems standards find solu-tions in Leica Geosystems’ partnership

programs. Based on a long strategic partnership with the Environmental Systems Research Institute Inc. (ESRI), Leica Geosystems and its

partners offer advanced solutions adapted to individual national standards and specific application requirements.

Within the area of geo-graphic informationalsystems (GIS), the SwissCompany Geocom Infor-matik is working strategicallywith Leica Geosystems tocreate new constant field-office-field solutions for linenetwork information(utilities), land registers, aswell as GIS and surveyingfunctions. These solutionshave particular relevance tothe Swiss market.

The company Geocom Informatik AG is the Swisscadastral and GIS marketexpert with several years ofexperience and know-how inthe structure, administrationand the management ofspace-related data in accor-dance with Swiss standards.The Geocom partnershipactively involves thedevelopment of new LeicaGeosystems measurementand GIS solutions as well asnew products for networkinformation. The creation ofa value chain of the newsystems allows automatedmeasurement in the field orfrom air, and covers allcustomer needs – frompublic authorities to the individual citizen. MarkusWuethrich, Manager of theGeocom Informatik AG, said:“Together it will be possibleto break through pasttechnological boundaries.”

“I am convinced that we setnew yardsticks that allow flexibility but at the sametime constancy. Owing to ouruse of the most moderntechnologies, our customerswill profit greatly and will beable to generate a consider-able increase in value.

In 2001, Lantmäteriet, theNational Land Survey ofSweden, signed an exclusivecontract with Leica Geo-systems to create the appli-cation software ArcCadastre.

ArcCadastre will offer neweconomic possibilities forthe documentation andadministration of real estateproperty and line networks.

Joakim Ollén, GeneralManager of Lantmaeteriet,said: “This partnership withLeica Goesystems is ideal. It brings together a combi-nation of experiences – fromcomponent technologydevelopment to real estateregister creation and landregister responsibility. I amsure that other cadastral-responsible people in numerous other countrieswill profit from this partner-ship in the future.”

LANTMÄTERIET

Reflectorless measurements with pinpoint accuracy... and up to 12 kmusing Leica Geosystems’ phase shift measurement technology

Unique advantages of Leica Geosystems’ phase shift measurement There are good reasons for

Leica Geosystems to use the

principle of phase shift in its

current total stations for both

reflectorless measurement

and measurement with

reflectors.

The laser bundle

is considerably smaller forphase shift instruments thanfor pulsed laser devices. This means the phase shiftinstrument is intrinsicallymore suitable for picking up

discrete objects or details.

The accuracy

of phase shift technology isgenerally superior to that ofthe pulsed laser.

A visible beam

can be used for phase shiftdue to the wavelength. Thiscan be useful for visible targeting.

Extremely long distances

can be achieved with

infrared distance measure-ment to reflectors. It ispossible to measure up to 12 km using a triple prism.This is something else thatis beyond the scope ofpulsed laser instruments. Leica Geosystems hasmatched the characteristicadvantages of pulse laserinstruments by optimisingphase shift technology for arange of reflectorlesssurveying total stations.

also be used for distancemeasurement using prisms.

Distances up to 12 km

Using the X-Range Optionwith red laser distancer, it ispossible to measure totargets over 7500 m awayfor single prisms or 12000 mfor triple prisms. Of courseyou can also target reflectortapes.

All the usual flexibility

When using TCRA instru-ments you can switch out ofreflectorless measurementinto the (ATR/LOCK) mode,which has automatic targetrecognition and tracking. In this mode the instrumentfollows the prism auto-matically. There is also thelightweight wirelessRCS1100 remote control unitwith which you can carry outmeasurements just as easilyas at the instrument itself. And that’s not all: for measu-rements with a prism in theinfrared EDM mode, theinstrument achieves anaccuracy of 2 mm + 2 ppmover the whole measure-ment range of 0 to 3000 m.

Many advantages

The new X-Range optionoffers the surveying world aTPS1100 Professional Seriestotal station, which, in addition to a longer range,

will be welcomed for its proven simplicity of use,quick measurement times,great selection of appli-cations, and its mobility.

Georg Lorse

Take reflectorless measure-

ments up to 200 m with the

X-Range total stations from

the TPS1100 Professional

Series. The visible coaxial

laser beam, high accuracy

and small footprint are the

distinguishing features of

this unique technology.

Reflectorless or with a

reflector

In addition to the standardinfrared EDM, the new X-Range total stations withtheir extended reflectorlessrange option are equippedwith a reflectorless, coaxial,visible red laser EDM. Theuser can switch convenientlybetween the two methods.

The reflectorless distancemeasurement system canoperate up to a distance of200 m, depending on thereflectivity of the surface.

Narrow laser bundle

Reflectorless measurementis based on phase shift tech-nology. Using this technique,an extremely narrow visiblelaser bundle is emitted,which precisely acquires the

target and guarantees veryaccurate distance measure-ment. The technical advan-tages include the small laserfootprint. At a range of 20 mthe spot is roughly ellipticaland only 0.7 x 1.4 cm. Thesmall dot enables accuratedistance measurements tocorners and edges. There isno need to run a special program. Just point andmeasure – and it’s done!

Visible spot

The red visible spot confirmsthe measuring position evenunder poor light conditions,e.g. inside buildings underconstruction or building interior surveys. Quick accurate measurements canbe taken without having tolook through the telescope.These advantages save youprecious time and money.

Indicator light for

reflectorless surveying

A yellow indicator light canbe seen beside the tele-scope. When a reflectorlessdistance measurement isbeing taken, the indicatorlight remains illuminateduntil the measurement hasbeen achieved. The indicator light alsoshines when the visiblebeam is switched on so itcan be used as a targetingaid or with prisms. It can

Laser bundles at 100 m distance

At 20 m 0.7 x 1.4 cmAt 100 m 1.5 x 3.0 cmAt 200 m 3.0 x 6.0 cm

Footprint of the reflectorless

laser beam (X-Range)

Green: Leica TPS X-Range

Orange: Typical measurement cone for a pulsed laser instrument

Winkelgenauigkeit 10" 7" 5" 3" 2" 1,5" 1" 0,5" TPS1000/2000 TCA TCA1800 TCA2003

TC TC1800 TC2003

TM TM1100 TM1800

T T1100 T1800

TPS1100 TCRAplus X-Range TCRA1105plus TCRA1103plus TCRA1102plus TCRA1101plus

TCRAplus TCRA1105plus TCRA1103plus TCRA1102plus TCRA1101plus

TCAplus TCA1105plus TCA1103plus TCA1102plus TCA1101plus

TCRMplus X-Range TCRM1105plus TCRM1103plus TCRM1102plus TCRM1101plus

TCRMplus TCRM1105plus TCRM1103plus TCRM1102plus TCRM1101plus

TCR X-Range TCR1105 TCR1103 TCR1102 TCR1101

TCR TCR1105 TCR1103 TCR1102 TCR1101

TCMplus TCM1105plus TCM1103plus TCM1102plus TCM1101plus

TC TC1105 TC1103 TC1102 TC1101

TPS700 TCRauto TCR705auto TCR703auto TCR702auto

TCR TCR705 TCR703 TCR702

TCauto TC705auto TC703auto TC702auto

TC TC705 TC703 TC702

TPS300 TCR TCR307 TCR305 TCR303

TC TC307 TC305 TC303

TPS100 TCR TCR110

TC TC110T T110 T105

Precision

Professional

Basic

Erklärung der Produktbezeichnungen:T elektronischer TheodolitTM motorisierter elektr. TheodolitTC TachymeterTCM motorisierter TachymeterTCauto motorisierter Tachymeter mit

automatische Feinzielung (ATR)TCR reflektorloser TachymeterTCRM motorisierter reflektorloser

TachymeterTCRauto reflektorloser, motorisierter,

Tachymeter mit automatischer Feinzielung (ATR)

TCA motorisierter Tachymeter mit automatischer Feinzielung und Verfolgung (ATR & LOCK)

TCRA reflektorloser, motorisierter Tachymeter mit automatischer Feinzielung und Verfolgung (ATR & LOCK)

Performance

11

TPS performance just keeps increasing thanks toLeica Geosystems’ modular concept

TPS upgradeability

keeps your instrument

state-of-the-art

Most Leica Geosystems total stations are readily upgradeable forenhanced functionality,or to a higher-perfor-mance model. Yourpresent-day investmentin a total station is thussure to meet futurerequirements.

Leica total station models at a glance

Leica TPS700auto – now with ATR Automatic Target RecognitionATR – Automatic Target Recognition – does away with manual fine sighting. Simply aim the telescope roughly at the target prism and press the button to start measurement. Theinstrument takes care of fine alignment and stores the measurement data all by itself. No active prisms are needed; existing prisms can be used. ATR is not only faster, it alsodelivers constant precision under all measurement conditions – even with failing light.Motorisation has other advantages, too: TCauto/TCRauto models bring pushbutton ease tochanging orientation and positioning the instrument as required, e.g. for stakeout.

As well as a conventional infrared rangefinder, the TCR/TCRauto also incorporates a reflectorless rangefinder using a visible red laser. Thanks to the beam’s minimal divergence(approx. 2cm/80m), the laser is ideal for precise measurements on very fine structures orelements. With the rapid coding feature, a single key-press initiates measurement andcodes the measured point.

Leica TPS300 Basic with new software version 3.5Version 3.5 brings further enhancements to TPS300 Basic series construction and civilengineering total stations, designed to ease work in the field.

Instruments that are currently in service can be upgraded. The latest software features anew Reference Line application for straightforward stakeout and checking of building linesand road sections, a radial method for tie distance, and the use of stored points in areacalculations. Other enhancements include a target eccentricity function (length, widthand/or height offset) and an extended codelist that can accommodate 200 codes.

TPS300 Basic series total stations are available in three accuracy classes (3”, 5”, 7”), with anoptional reflectorless measurement function (TCR).

TPS700 Performance series totalstations are available in threeaccuracy classes (2”, 3”, 5”), with an optional reflectorlessmeasurement function (TCRauto).Accessories are fully compatiblewith the TPS100/300/ 1100 series,and the GPS500 system.

Leica Instrument types: T Electr. theodoliteTM Motorised electr. theodoliteTC TotalstationTCM Motorised total stationTcauto Motorised total station with

automatic fine sighting (ATR)TCR Reflectorless total stationTCRM Motorised reflectorless total

stationTCRauto Reflectorless, motorised total

station with automatic fine sighting (ATR)

TCA Motorised total station with automatic fine sighting and tracking (ATR & LOCK)

TCRA Reflectorless, motorised total station with automatic fine sighting and tracking (ATR & LOCK)

Angle accuracy

12

Leica Geosystems sets international innovationsstandards

Peter Frank, responsible for the Leica Geoystems Innovation Process,Eugen Voit, Chief Technology Officer, and Leica Geosystems’ CEOHans Hess, are proud of the TECTEM award for “successful practice”.

The success of our economy

and companies is based

upon the ability to develop

original ideas and to turn

them quickly and efficiently

into successful products.

But why are some compa-

nies more successful than

others in doing so? This

question has been the topic

of a benchmark study by

the Benchmarking Center

(TECTEM) at the University

St. Gallen (Switzerland),

who were investigating

innovation controlling and

management. Out of 150

companies invited to parti-

cipate, half of them took

part. Six companies from

five countries, among

them Leica Geosystems,

Heerbrugg, were awarded

a prize for the “Successful

Practice” in Innovation

Controlling.

Hans-Jürgen Euler, RyanKeenan and BenediktZebhauser awarded in theUS

The strong market positionof Leica Geosystems within the area of GPS iscontinuously developing.For their presentation of the trail-blazing concept forthe standardisation andimprovement of datacommunication in GPS reference station networks,co-workers Hans-JürgenEuler, Ryan Keenan andBenedikt Zebhauser werehonoured at the IONGPS2001 conference inUtah, USA. The group co-wrote the paper “Studyof a simplified approach toutilising information for Permanent Reference Station arrays“ withGerhard Wübbena fromGeo++ GmbH, Germany.

Alain Würsch receivesNortel-Preis

Leica Geosystems’employee, Alain Würschwas distinguished with theNortel Network Prize 2001from the Swiss Society forOptics and Microscopy(SSOM) in 2001. Togetherwith Marco Scussat and the laboratory of Leica Geosystems, he developed a procedure that makes itpossible to coat and alignminiaturised optic and optronic components to onethousandth of a millimetreaccuracy. This procedure ishighly suitable for industrymass productions andconsequently LeicaGeosystems and MTA Auto-mation have registered apatent. Leica Geosystemshas supported the TRIMOproject for many years, andthis project is a good example of the cooperationbetween university andindustry in the discipline ofoptics and robotics. Products will soon bebrought onto the marketusing this TRIMO procedurefor minaturised surface-mounted optic and optroniccomponents, e.g. for evenmore exact laser rangefinding. Complicated opticscomponents can be smaller thereby than twomillimetres.

Two honorary doctoral degrees for Marco Leupin

Independently, but practical-ly at the same in Autumn2001, the two Universities of“Yerevan State University”in Yerevan, Armenia, and the“Technical State University”in Tibilisi, Georgia, haveawarded an honorary docto-ral degree (Dr. h. c.) to MarcoLeupin. Professor MarcoLeupin acts as an advisor to

Leica Geosystems for pro-jects and business develop-ment. Both universitieswanted to honour theprofessional contribution ofProfessor Leupin during hiscareer as university profes-sor, as Surveyor General ofSwitzerland and as CEO ofprivate companies as wellas for his dedication in bothcountries towards theeconomic development andpromotion of geosciences.

The internationally formedgroup of members fromScience and Industry wasimpressed by the Leica Inno-vation Process (LIP), withwhich a continuous streamof new products has beengenerated. This is a centralsource of success for thecompany, which today generates eighty percent ofits turnover from surveyingsystems that have onlycome onto the marketduring the course of the lasttwo years. Leica Geosystems’ CEOHans Hess: “Together withmy colleagues, I am veryproud of this TECTEM awardfor successful practice. Itshows that we are leading innovators not only withinour industry and in Switzer-land, but also compared toother worldwide leading enterprises in diversefields.”

13

Five thousand years in the ‘field of vision’

Every summer for the last 15 years, archaeologistsfrom the American Univer-sity of Beirut Museum havebeen toiling away in the barren landscape of TellKazel, a site on the Syriancoast. Until this year, the jobwas pretty basic. Ancientwalls were measuredmanually stone by stone andarchitects had to climb upand down pits three metersdeep to record the ancientarchitecture, pulling the tapetight against the wind. Notonly was the method veryslow, it was only as accurateas the human hand and eye:until the arrival of the LeicaGeosystems’ Total StationTCR703.

Usually found on major construction sites andmodern projects, it revolu-tionised work at the archaeological site of TellKayel. Manned by a singlearchitect at ground level, theinstrument measured andrecorded the ancient wallsand structures in seconds.Results were then immedia-tely slipped into the site’scomputer for exact andspeedy mapping.

The American University ofBeirut archaeological teamis delighted by the new technology. “It’s like goingfrom the second MillenniumBC to the third MillenniumAD in a single leap,” said theteam’s leader Dr Leila Badre.

height in the 14th CenturyBC, Simyra is referred to inthe Bible as well as in theTell Amarna Letters ofEgypt.

Dr Badre thanked MrGhassan Ghattas, Head ofSurvey Department of Alpha-Tech, Beirut, for his supportwith the use of this moderntechnology.

The name of the millennia-old site being recorded bythe Leica TCR703 is probablyancient Simyra, an Amoriteand Phoenician city. At its

14

Leica ALS40 and ADS40 systems dominate LIDAR

Leica Geosystems' impres-

sive range of airborne data

acquisition solutions

consists of the industry-

leading systems from the

Leica Geosystems subsidi-

ary, LH Systems. Integrated

into the Leica Geosystems

GIS & Mapping Division

along with other

LH Systems' products for

the acquisition, processing

and maintenance of imagery

and geospatial data, are the

processing phase of LIDARwork allow us to offer exceedingly attractive LIDARand support solutions to ourcustomers."

The LIDAR – LIght DetectionAnd Ranging – scanningsystem measures thetopography of the earth’ssurface. It works by emittinga series of rapid laser pulsestowards the ground as theaircraft flies across theproject area. These pulsesare reflected by the groundor objects that they hit. Anelapsed time is recordedbetween the emitted andreturning signals, enabling aslant distance to be compu-ted. At the same time theposition and attitude of theaircraft are measured usingairborne GPS and inertialmeasurement unit (IMU)sub-systems, and a GPS

ground reference station isalso deployed. This data isthen combined with theslant distance, together withinformation on atmosphericconditions, hardwarecharacteristics and otherrelevant parameters, togenerate an XYZ coordinatetriplet of a point on theground. As the mission progresses, millions of suchpoints are captured, pro-viding a dense digital terrainmodel (DTM).

The ALS40 Airborne LaserScanner is a LIDAR systembased on a diode-pumpedsolid-state laser. It is capableof operating at altitudesfrom 500 to 6100 metres andcan record up to five returnpulses with a maximumpulse rate of 25 kHz. Thedata can be used to develop

cutting-edge ALS40 airborne

laser scanner and ADS40

airborne digital sensor.

The ALS40 LIDAR system isthe next generation of thehigh-performance AeroScansystem, formerly offered byAzimuth Corporation. Thebusiness of Azimuth wasacquired by Leica Geo-systems in 2001. Enhancedas the ALS40, this robustLIDAR system is an excellent addition to the Leica familyof airborne sensors.

"There is a technical overlapbetween airborne sensorsand LIDAR systems, both ofwhich use flight planning,GPS, inertial, hardware, soft-ware and storage systems,"said Bob Morris, President,Leica Geosystems GIS &Mapping Division. "Ourexpertise in these areas,familiarity with thechallenges of installing andoperating airborne sensorsand the potential of our existing digital photo-grammetry products tostrengthen the ground

GS5+ incorporates thelatest GPS technology fromLeica and IBM, to addressthe special needs of GISapplications even betterthan before. The result: avery low-cost, compact,lightweight GPS solution for GIS work.

The Leica GS5+ offers verygood reception characteris-tics, making it an econo-mical data capture tool.The GS5+ sends WGS84coordinates to NMEA-capable GIS acquisitionsoftware like FieldLink(Leica) or ArcPad (ESRI).The system ships pre-configured, only requiringconnection with anappropriate PC or PDA. The complete GS5+ package includes a back-pack, rechargeablebatteries, and allinterconnecting cables. The GPS antenna is fittedwith a beacon correctionreceiver. Even withoutDGPS correction, the GS5 achieves positionalaccuracy of 3 - 5 m.

Michael Mudra

Grand Canyon, USA, captured byLeica ALS40 (right).

Leica GS5+ plug and playA novel GPS concept from Leica Geosystems for GIS andcartography

15

and digital airborne data acquisition

digital terrain models,contours, intensity imagesand various other represen-tations of elevation.

The Leica ALS40 system willbe supplied on its own or injoint configurations with theRC30 aerial film camera orADS40 Airborne Digital Sensor.

Introduced last year, theADS40 is the first digitalaerial photography system,capable of delivering photogrammetric accuracyand coverage as well asmultispectral data. Userscan work digitally from flightplanning through imageacquisition, and return fromthe flight mission withdigital data ready to enterthe ground processing andarchiving stages of the day’sworkflow. During flight, data

is stored on a mass memorysystem, which is then removed from the aircraft'scomputer and connected toa PC workstation for groundprocessing.

The ADS40 is very differentfrom the familiar Leica RC30.Not only is the imaging principle digital rather thananalogue, but the funda-mental construction isconceptually different fromthat behind the frame filmcamera. Three pairs ofpanchromatic CCD lines capturing panchromaticinformation in viewsforward, nadir and backwardfrom the aircraft for photo-grammetric restitution aresupplemented by fourmultispectral lines, resultingin the simultaneous captureof seven bands of infor-mation. The raw ADS40 data

is rectified using positionand attitude data suppliedby a Position and Orien-tation System from ApplanixCorporation.

The ALS40 and ADS40systems are supported anddistributed through LeicaGeosystems' GIS & MappingDivisions' global network ofsales offices, subsidiariesand exclusive third party dis-tributors. "We are excitedabout the benefits of theseadvanced and flexibleairborne data acquisitionsystems for our customers,"commented Morris. "Ourgoal is to expand our richselection of quality GIS &Mapping solutions to keepup with the changing anddiverse needs of themarket."

For more information aboutLeica Geosystems GIS &Mapping Division or its products and services,contact: +1 404 248 9000, or visit www.gis.leica-geosystems.com. Bt

Online connectivity between laserrangefinders and Leica GPS receivers

point, resulting in consider-able time-savings using thetechnique. The choice oflaser rangefinder dependson the measurementdistance and precisionrequired. A user-definableASCII input supports onlineconnectivity not just withrangefinders, but indeedany external device(environmental sensors,digital cameras, sonicdepth finders, etc.).

Michael Mudra

How can coordinates atinaccessible points berecorded using GPS surveytechniques? All LeicaGeosystems GPS sensors(System 500) supportonline connections to anexternal laser rangefinder.Both the Laser Locator andLaserAce® 300 cantransmit distance, horizon-tal (Hz) and vertical (V)angles to the GPS receiver,where they are convertedto geocoded coordinates.This makes it unnecessaryto visit every measurement

Leica DISTO:Distance Measuring range: 0,3-100 m

Precision: ±3 mm

LaserAce® 300:D, Hz, V Measuring range: bis 300 m

Precision: ±10 cm

Leica Laser Locator:D, Hz, V Measuring range: 10-1500 m

Precision: ±1 m

Laser Locator

Parma, Italy, captured in sevebands of information with LeicaADS40 (above).

16

A digital urban model created for North Sydney Council has

projected the future of urban management into reality. Leica

Geosystems, with its combined strengths in GIS systems

development, offers such solutions supporting state-of-the-art

city development. Their comprehensive program of terrestrial

and global positioning systems, together with the advantages

of the photogrammetric aerial camera and software of

LH Systems, has made it possible for Australian company, PSN

Survey, to capture 1.2 million points and to create from this data

a 3D model of North Sydney.

What if a city developerwanted to build a 50-storey skyscraper in the middle of aCentral Business District? In the past this proposalwould have been a painful undertaking – plans wouldneed to be drawn manually,shadow and wind tunnelanalysis calculated and large textual reports produced foradministrators to considerand assess.

Luckily, the future of urbanplanning is upon us. 3-Dcomputer models of entirecity areas with details downto the cracks in the pave-ments are now a reality.Town planners, architects,engineers, and designersnow have a wealth of infor-mation at their fingertips –able to visualise conceptualand engineering projectsand locate physical struc-tures throughout the entire municipality down to a couple of centimetres.

North Sydney Council’snewly-completed digitalUrban Information Model,

North Sydney sets the world stage for 3-D urban modelling

developed by Sydney-basedPSN Survey, has defined anew benchmark in localgovernment developmentcontrol and asset manage-ment it is one of the largestaccurate and detailed infor-mation databases of its typein the world.

The model, which involvedaccuracies between 1:250and 1:500, was honoured at a recent international

conference, when it was selected from entries fromforty countries to be awar-ded for its engineering andtechnological excellence.

PSN exclusively employedLeica Geosystems‘ equip-ment for a combination ofdetailed ground survey techniques, aerial survey,and photogrammetry. Analysis and processing ofphotogrammetric work

Peter Noble, Partner and ChiefSurveyor, PSN Survey: “In essen-ce, North Sydney Council have adynamic, online and immediatelyaccessible computer model oftheir entire region with acomplete three dimensionalmodel and detailed photomapping of every single physicalstructure in their area.”

High resolution ortho-photographs show every detail of the area.

17

was carried out using LH Systems’ SOCET SET™digital photogrammetry software.

One of the most detailedmodels in the world

The Urban InformationModel provides NorthSydney Council with a com-plete three-dimensionalmodel and data link of everyphysical structure includingbuildings, complex roofstructures, roads, sign posts,parking bays and kerbcrossings.

More than 20,000 buildingsmade up of an array of con-temporary high rise officeblocks, residential dwellingsand historic terrace villageshave been measured, 100kilometres of roads havebeen accurately mapped andevery utility located to withintwo or three centimetresover the entire municipality.Every manhole, gas valve,telecom pit and hydrant hasbeen precisely mapped andlinked to North SydneyCouncils Geographic Infor-mation System and landvisualisation systems sup-ported by high resolutionphotography.

Several cities around theworld are now developingadvanced models of theircities, but North Sydney'smodel is so detailed andaccurate that even cracks inthe pavement have beenmeasured and pramcrossings can be modelledand visualised in three-dimensions to better than afew centimetres.

New model allows fordetailed accuracy checking

Until now North SydneyCouncil had been reliantupon a series of hard copyplans to manage their spatially-based managementand information systems.“We decided that theCouncil needed a detailedand accurate large-scaledatabase and three-dimen-sional model defining thetopography, buildings andutilities,” Mayor of NorthSydney Council, GeniaMcCaffery said. “Prior tothis, the systems we useddid not allow us to check foraccuracy.”

This spatial databaserequired transfer into theCouncil’s existing Geo-graphic Information System(GIS) and modelling systemswith full verification of alllayer components to enable access and three-dimensional visualisationthroughout the modelledcity and suburbs.

PSN has been able to pro-vide a model which not onlydefines the physical struc-ture to great accuracy butalso locates all the utilities,road structures and providesasset maintenance monitorssuch as pavement deteriora-tion and vegetation growth.

High accuracy terrain modeland contour formation werecarried out in conjunctionwith equally high accuracyorthophoto production tosupport the Council’s GIS.Whilst normal orthophotosare corrected for terrain,plane and camera para-meters, the entire area wascorrected for building leanof over twenty thousandbuildings as well as over 100kilometres of roads and 250kilometres of pathways.

“In essence, North SydneyCouncil has a dynamic,

North Sydney is the first big city to be documented in a GIS is suchdetail.

The height profile of the whole of North Sydney has been definedwith equipment from Leica Geosystems.

“Customers are always intoseeing a real picture ratherthan lines. „

Stephen Gaynor

18

The North Sydney GIS includes the followingsurvey elements2nd order control – traverse and GPS1st order control – GPSDetailed ground surveyMetrologyDigital photogrammetryTopographic modellingControl AdjustmentDigital Cadastre adjustmentPhotographic mosaicingOrthorectification (including building lean)GIS creationGIS polygon verificationProject design and implementationDigital information managementEngineering analysisRegional slope analysisSolar analysis – full Keplerian mathematical analysis

online and immediatelyaccessible computer modelof their entire region with acomplete three dimensionalmodel and detailed photomapping of every singlephysical structure in theirarea,” Peter Noble, ChiefSurveyor of PSN said.“Council staff can manage,view, take cross sections of,or visualise all of their roads,sign posts, parking bays,drainage, trees, assets andfacilities within a matter ofminutes without going outthe door.”

Wide-ranging benefits to allinvolved

Direct benefits of the modelare diverse. The Council cannow undertake very detailedasset management, the timeof the development applica-tion process is greatly redu-ced, and the conceptual andengineering design conside-rations can be rapidly resol-ved. The effects of develop-ments as major as under citytunnels or as localised asawnings and sign postingcan be analysed accuratelyand immediately. Environ-mental, shadow, aestheticsor engineering consider-ations via computer or photography and complexthree-dimensional imagedraping over the buildings isalso possible.

“This is going to giveeverybody the most accura-te data available – some-thing the Council hasn’t hadbefore,” Stephen Fisher,Information Systems Mana-ger of North Sydney Councilsaid. “The internal staffrequire this product as partof their business. It willreduce manual methods,reduce errors and providethe whole solution in oneplace, in a complete corpo-rate database.”

Several projects are alreadyunderway. Council assets

are being accurately registe-red, the effect of individualtrees adjoining footpaths isbeing investigated and astructure is in place for a fulldrainage analysis using highaccuracy contours. ‘What if’scenarios for development,road realignment andshadow effects can be relia-bly evaluated for shadow orview corridors as well asvisual amenity and contextin a tenth of the timenormally required.

Whilst in-house benefits toCouncil are evident, a wealthof information is also availa-ble to residents and potenti-al developers who can seekaccess to the information fortheir development proposalsregarding utilities, adjoiningproperty information, largescale photography or surveyinformation. This has resul-ted in a dramatically im-proved customer relation-ship due to the ability tocommunicate with custo-mers to evaluate proposals,resolve conflicts and discussbroader planning issuesusing either models or photographs.

Marc Forestieri, ManagingDirector of Architects’ Quan-tum Leap, views the UrbanInformation Model as a hugebenefit to his work. “This isa great management tool.We can tie our demographicinformation with the model,and present our clients withgraphic information aboutthe terrain and the buildingsthat would have normallybeen presented in a reportformat,” he said. “This is the key of what wewant to do – putting thiskind of information into thehands of people who needto make decisions, people

Genia McCaffery, North SydneyMayor: “We decided that theCouncil needed a detailed andaccurate large-scale databaseand three-dimensional modeldefining the topography,buildings and utilities. Prior tothis, the systems we used didnot allow us to check foraccuracy.”

Stephen Fisher, Information Services Manager North SydneyCouncil: “This is going to giveeverybody the most accuratedata available.“

“That’s the beauty about themodel – it can always beupdated. „

Joshua Crowley

19

who often aren’t mapping ordatabase experts.“

Technologies from entire surveying spectrum

The North Sydney Projecttook eighteen months tocomplete and employed abroad array of measure-ment, computing and pre-sentation technologies span-ning the entire surveyingspectrum. The project reliedupon three significantstages: data collection,model and map formationand image visualisation. Allthree stages relied almostexclusively upon Leica state-of-the-art surveying, mea-surement, photogrammetrictechnology, and softwareand data transfer to analyseservices. The data collection phaseencompassed control mea-surement using electronictheodolites, first- andsecond-order GPS position-ing and adjustments. Sever-al hundred second-ordercontrol stations were placedthrough the area tied intothe State network for groundand air control and over amillion points were mea-sured to structure the model.Continual development andimplementation of methodo-logies for high-speed datacollection by ground and air

was necessary with carefuland consistent monitoring ofthe individual positionalaccuracys.

Due to the diversity of fea-tures collected and measure-ment systems used, over fifteen major software pack-ages were extensively requi-red for development of thecomputer model. Once com-pleted the models requiredverification and transferralto North Sydney Council'ssoftware. To satisfy inter-linking of the software, itwas often necessary todevelop proprietary soft-ware in-house as a means ofsmoothing the transitions.Information was structuredto tie in directly withCouncil’s existing GenaMapand MapInfo (with full poly-gon verification), and layerswere established for theirfuture three-dimensionalmodelling software.

Leica Geosystems’ equipmentis stable, predictable and reliable

“PSN has always found Leicaequipment to be stable, predictable and reliable,“Peter Noble said. “It pro-vided an ease of use and acontinuous line of technicalsupport and technical credi-bility that was fundamental

The data collection phase encompassed control measurement usingelectronic theodolites, first- and second-order GPS positioning andadjustments. Several hundred second-order control stations wereplaced through the area and tied into the State control network. Over a million points were measured to structure the model.

to the integrity of the UrbanInformation Model.”

“What made the collectionof the data so effective wasthat we could go from thecamera system and thescanning to the film measu-rements and the industrialmeasurements, link them alltogether and have a conti-nuous level of accuracy rightthroughout the model. Infact we are able to confi-dently report that there wasnot a single error found inthe verification process ofthe Urban InformationModel.”

Up-to-date data is critical,and as such a rigorousmaintenance program isbeing developed to supportthe initial information. “As adynamic model, the UrbanInformation Model is alwaysgoing to require updatingand maintenance,” PeterNoble said. “This can bedone using a variety ofmethods – Leica has a facili-ty within the SOCET SET™system to provide regionalupdating and measurementof change. Ground survey,aerial survey and industrialmeasurement techniqueswill still be used to not onlymaintain the level of integri-ty that is placed in the modelright now, but also to extendthat level of information.”

Innovation is the key

As technology improves, themodel will also be develo-ped for rapid photographicvisualisation and moredetailed analysis programssuch as vegetation and environmental alteration.

Whilst the project wasinitially seen as a traditionalaerial survey project, it wasPSN's innovative approachto North Sydney Council'srequirements that won themthe contract. “PSN actuallywon the project through ten-der by virtue of introducing

what is called a new eco-nomy technology,” PeterNoble said. “Traditionally,photogrammetric surveyshave been carried out usingaerial photogrammetricsystems only – PSN offereda complete solution where-by all the information tradi-tionally covered by trees andbuilding shadow were alsoincluded in the project.”

“The main challenge of theNorth Sydney Project wasthat it hadn’t been donebefore. No one has collectedinformation to the level of

20

Stephen Gaynor, from LH Systemsand Joshua Crowley from PSNSurvey view stereo images onthe screen. The analysis and processing of photogrammetricwork carried out using LH Systems’ SOCET SET digital photogrammetry software.

Marc Forestieri, Managing Direc-tor of Architects’ Quantum Leap:“This is the key of what we want to do – putting this kind ofinformation into the hands ofpeople who need to make decisions, people who oftenaren’t mapping or databaseexperts.”

“PSN has always found Leicaequipment to be stable, pre-dictable and reliable. „

Peter Noble

detail that we have andmany new technologieswere employed in the development of the project,”said Stephen Fisher.

North Sydney’s managementarea comprises severalmajor foreshore parklandsand heritage listed parks andsignificant structures. Mini-mal environmental impactoccurred during the project,in fact most people wereunaware that work had beenundertaken. Actual effectwas limited to establishmentof new and more precisecontrol marks for future surveys.

As a result of the project,North Sydney Council hasbeen projected to the forefront of modern localgovernment management.The project has been onexhibition at internationalexhibitions including the US Surveying and RemoteSensing Congress and theBentley User Conference,and received internationalfocus when the digitalphotography was displayedalongside NASA projects.

“The application of theUrban Information Model ofNorth Sydney is repeatablearound the entire globe,”Peter Noble said. “Any citythat has a sizeable popu-lation, that has physicalstructures, requires adetailed understanding of itsassets and its elementswithin for effective manage-ment.”With the new capacity ofLeica Geosystems, this taskhas become easier. PSN has done an excellent jobdemonstrating the capa-bilities of modern GIS datacollection to every user. A video of this project isavailable from Leica Geosystems representativesupon request to show howthe future can be trans-formed into reality today. Bt

21

North Sydney is the first big city to be documented in a GIS is suchdetail, allowing also shadow analysis.

Below: Survey technology hasrecently undertaken quantumleaps. Cyrax is able to measurecomplex structures in very littletime as a test on the Sydney Har-bour Bridge shows.The system delivers accurate,“as built” 3D models to scale that can be viewed from any perspective.

Could the turbines in a new hydro-electricity generating station cause ships to drift withintheir shipping lanes? Following the construction of a new hydro-electricity generatingstation on the bend in the River Danube at the lower Bavarian town of Bad Abbach(Germany), it was feared that the operating turbines might have just such an effect. The turbine inlet zone opens out directly into the shipping lane just before a lock, which requiresships to pass this position only at reduced speed. Model tests carried out in advance of theconstruction did not detect any effect. It was essential that the results of the model testswere verified in practice by measuring the courses of a representative sample of passingships. Therefore, the Geodetic Institute at the Technical University of Munich wascommissioned to determine and analyse the tracks of the ships in position and height to anaccuracy of ±5 cm in real time.

Working in real time, mobile, flexible and reliable

The demands on the measurement system were challenging. In order to keep the number ofmonitored ship passages as few as possible, and hence minimise the associated time andcosts, the system was required to be able to produce initial analyses from the real timemeasurements immediately on site. Furthermore, the installed system had to be unaffectedby the weather and able to determine the position of the bow and the stern simultaneouslyat a frequency of 1 Hz. As the monitoring was to be carried out on ordinary ships belongingto any Danube ship company, it was necessary to have sensors that would be mobile, andabove all, flexible and quick to attach. The length of the test course was approximately 800 m, with good visibility and free of shadows – that is, except for the lock buildings at thestart and a bridge at the end. In spite of these GPS shadows would it still be possible to usereal time kinematic differential GPS here?

It had to be shown in advance that re-initialisation of the ambiguities in the on-the-flyprocess due to the loss of signal when ships passed under the bridge would only take a

Quick resolution of ambiguities required! RTK positioning of ships using Leica GPS500

Above: Bridge and lock buildingscaused GPS shadows. However,this did not prove a hindrance tothe Leica GPS500. Below: Refe-rence station and computer base.Right: Even with all the variousships and different mountingsinvolved, it took less than 5 minu-tes to fit the two Leica GPSsensors and radio transmissionequipment to the bow and stern.

22

GPS 530 at full speed GPS rover at the stern Mobile backpack solution

maximum of one minute. Any longer and it might not be possible to determine any driftaccurately because the speed of the ship would have taken it too far into the test course.One test with the Leica GPS System 530 soon cleared things up: both rovers were mountedon the roof of a VW bus and several journeys were made along an industrial road beside theDanube at simulated ship’s speed. At high and low speeds and with different satelliteconstellations, the ambiguities at both frequencies were able to be resolved within thespecified time period.

A measurement concept using Leica components

During Summer 2000, a total of three SR 530 GPS receivers were used for the monitoredjourneys. The reference station was in the middle of the test course on an embankment overa shadow-free hectometre stone of known coordinates. The two rovers were each used witha backpack system with a plumbing pole and an AT 502 GPS antenna as well as a LeicaTCPS26 radio data modem. The modem transmited the determined 3-D positions to a basestation on the bank in the test bus, which housed a computer. The received data in NMEAformat was recorded on a laptop, saved and then analysed immediately after the ship hadpassed with the Geodetic Institute’s shiPos software and LISCAD Plus from LeicaGeosystems.

GPS surveying on board ...

The river navigation authority’s officer informed the captains of the passing freighters aboutthe monitoring exercise over the radio just before they reached the test course and askedthem for permission to attach the GPS rover antennas. As boarding the ships was only possible whilst they were in the locks at Kehlheim and Bad Abbach and any disruption toshipping movements on the river was to be avoided, in most cases the time available forattaching the GPS sensors was only 5 minutes. The GPS plumbing poles were attached insuitable positions at the bow and stern with the help of cable ties and referenced to theship’s side with a measuring tape. After the receiver was switched on, the ambiguities resolved and a test of the transmission back to the computer, the measurement of the monitored journey could begin. A total of six monitored journeys were undertaken per day.The resolution of ambiguities after the bridge was generally completed within 45 secondsand always provided reliable results.

Quick results!

The NMEA data records received on the bank were analysed immediately after each monitored journey. In addition to the height and speed plots, the main interest was thecourse of the ship. The trajectory was superimposed on the digital navigation charts and theplan of the power station by the LISCAD Plus graphical software. This plot could be manipulated to provide the required information and printed in colour to any scale – all onsite.

Our measurement concept proved itself successful. In spite of the shadows, the GPS-System 500 from Leica Geosystems worked very reliably and provided the requiredaccuracy and measurement frequency. The data radio transmission solution was alsoimpressive. None of the monitored journeys was subject to an equipment failure. A big

advantage was the quasi-real time analysis. Theresults were available onsite a very short time afterevery monitored journey.This meant that the numberof monitored journeys couldbe kept to a minimum.

Jens Czaja

23

Leica GPS Constructionmachinery guidancesystem for the Airbus-Project

The production of the

huge Airbus 380 in

Hamburg requires a host

of different construction

projects at Mühlenberger

Loch.

One of the constructionfirms, Josef MöbiusBaugesellschaft mbH,opted to use the Leica GPS System 530 for thecontrol of constructionplant and staking out onthe featureless 150 hec-tare site. A first order of 39 GPS sensors are now to be used at the Elbeestuary site. Considerablymore accuracy and lasercontrol will be in opera-tion later in the fabricationshops. Control of tools,components and assemb-ly work on the new wide-bodied jet will be carriedout to submillimetre accuracy throughout thewhole production processusing Leica LTD500 lasertrackers.

GPS rover with TCPS26 modem GPS rover at the bow Below: The gigantic construc-tion site at Mühlenberger Loch,Hamburg. Construction machi-nery guided by Leica GPS530systems grade the fill to theprofiles shown in the drawingsand simplify the constructionof the infrastructure works.

24

Final steps to finish for the largest “Emmentaler” Tunnel

In the lower Emmental, this 1.6 kilometre-long tunnel is beingbuilt below the River Emme. It is part of the Bahn2000 newconstruction section that willallow travel from Bern to Zurich.Using automated steering with a3D-Machine Guidance System of Leica Geosystems, shouldershave now been laid in thebiggest “Emmentaler Hole”.

The Swiss countryside is

riddled with newly-created

traffic routes. They break

through not only the

massive alpine mountains

like the Gotthard, but also

travel under riverbeds, such

as the River Emme in central

Switzerland. At the end of

2001, a new stage of the

Bahn2000 project was

completed – the “Emmen-

tunnel” break-through –

advancing further with the

building of the “Matt-

stetten-Rothrist” section,

using the newest techno-

logy to build the concrete

side flanks. This tunnel is

one of nine on the 41.5 kilo-

metre stretch.

The last two years has seenthe creation of 1.6 kilo-metres of tunnelling underthe river, followed by thetrack section in December2001. The shoulders havebeen built in concrete, usingnew technology with milli-metre-exact precision tocreate a perfect three-dimen-sional profile.

A world first in tunnel

construction: shoulders

with three-dimensional

controlled slipformer

This is the first project in theworld, where a tunnel hasbeen concreted with thecomplex shoulders 3D-controlled sliding form. Theconcrete slipformer, ownedby the building companyWalo Bertschinger, auto-matically followed milli-metre-exact data calculatedby Project Engineers Schaellibaum using theLeica Geosystems’ 3D-Machine Guidance Systemsin a closed work-process.The finished concrete wassupplied to the front of theslipformer from trucks toallow for exactly the correctdimension and position forthe shoulders to be layed.

25% time savings

Within the specially-formedconcreted shoulders, numerous wirings for com-munication and pipes forsupply and disposal are tobe integrated. This tunnel

will connect in 2004 theSwiss capital Bern and theeconomic metropolis ofZurich in less than one hourtrain journey. The support ofthe unique construction ofthe track and tunnel, willallow the train to effortlesslyglide through the country-side, even at 200 kilometresper hour. “Apart from thehigh precision, a consider-able time saving of 25 percent is also achieved usingthis laser-steered slip-forming machine – comple-tely without time-consumingmark posts and obstructingstrings!” said WaloBertschinger constructionspecialist Heinrich Läuppi.

LB-900 Mini-Beacon®

Automatically Leveled Rotating Laser

• Automatic Leveling –Horizontal and Vertical

• 90° Split Beam• Enclosed Head• One-Touch Reference Point Positioning• Off Level Indicator• Remote Control Capable – Full Function • Adjustable Scan Modes• Variable Rotation Speeds• Auto/Manual Operation for Slope• Low Battery Indicator

LB-9 – Model 9135

Full Featured Interior Laser Beacon

• Fully automatic, fast and accurateelectronic self-leveling in both upright and laydown positions

• Bright visible beam with a2000 foot (600m) working diameterwith sensor

• Top and bottom plumb beams for vertical plumbing and layout work

• Full function unit with scanning capabilityand selectable head speeds

• 12 arc second accuracy• Optional remote control operates

up to 300 feet (90m) from the laser• Self-contained rechargeable battery pack• 100% water proof

LB-10 – Model 4950Economy Interior Laser Beacon

• Stainless steel ball bearingself-leveling system maintains accuracyover the 1200 foot (365m) working diameter

• 12 arc second accuracy• Bright visible beam• Scanning and selectable head speeds• Laydown feature is manually controlled

for vertical applications• Uses alkaline or

rechargeable battery pack• 100% waterproof

For walls, partitions, ceilings and other general building applications

For setting forms, checking level, and other general building applications

Rod-Eye 8 – Sensor

Grade Rod Receiver

• Full function graphic displayfront and back

• Selectable audio volumeOff, Loud and Louder

• Automatic shut-off to preserve battery life• Electronic filtering and waterproof seal• Works with any rotating laser • Universal sensor bracket attaches

to square, round or oval grade rods

LB-100 – Model 4910Low Cost Laser Beacon

• Stainless steel ballbearing self-leveling pendulum

• Mid-range –1000 foot (300m) working diameter

• Fast, easy set-up with “out-of-level”shut off

• 18 arc second accuracy• Uses alkaline batteries

or rechargeablebattery pack

• 100% waterproof

GENERAL CONSTRUCTION LASERS

LB-10 – Model 4900 Self-leveling Laser Beacon

• Stainless steel ball bearing self-leveling pendulum

• Long range 2000 foot (600m) working diameter

• Fast, easy set-up with“out-of-level” shut off

• Rodmaster control – The Rod-Eye 8 will indicate on its display when the 4900 battery pack is getting low

• 12 arc second accuracy• Uses alkaline batteries

or rechargeable battery pack• 100% waterproof

INTERIOR LASERS

2850 Thornhills S.E.Grand Rapids, Michigan 49546, U.S.A.2850 Thornhills S.E.Grand Rapids, Michigan 49546, U.S.A.

SEEKS LEFT EDGE SEEKS RIGHT EDGE ON TARGET

2850 Thornhills S.E.Grand Rapids, Michigan 49546, U.S.A.

Models are available with or without with the

Alignmaster System

Beam Aligners – 6700 Series Red or Green• Highly visible Hot Red or Green laser diode beam• Wireless remote control• Large, easy to read LCD display• Alignmaster – Automatic targeting system

allows you to find the target fastfor second day set-ups (Model 6770 / 6790)

• Rock solid metal housing• Rechargeable nickel-metal hydride battery pack• 100% Waterproof

LB-4 – Series• Greater than 2000 foot (600m)

working diameter• 12 arc second accuracy• Elevation alert• Fully automatic, electronic, self-leveling• Large, easy to read LCD display• 12 Volt or rechargeable battery pack• 100% Waterproof

LB-400 – Model 9170Dual Grade Laser Beacon

±3% in the A axis±1% in the B axis

• Greater than 3000 foot (900m) working diameter

• 5 arc second accuracy• Elevation alert• Fully automatic, electronic, self-leveling• Full function graphic display• Optional sighting scope available• Self-contained rechargeable battery pack• 100% Waterproof

LB-10 – Model 4970

Self-Leveling Laser Beacon

With Manual Grade Up To 10%

• Stainless steel ball bearing pendulum• Manual grade capability up to 10%• Greater than 2000 foot (600m)

working diameter• 12 arc second accuracy at level• Disturbance shut-off if knocked off grade• Large, easy to read LCD display• Uses alkaline or

rechargeable battery pack• 100% Waterproof

For underground applications

Working with our 360° or Depthmaster 200 machine control sensors, we offer

several models to convert your machine to indicate or automatic laser control

MACHINE CONTROL LASERS

PIPE LASERS

Javelin and Javelin-s Laser Beacons• High degree of accuracy• 2000’ (600m) working diameter• ±20% Dual Grade• ±50% Grade (s-model only)• Auto Alignment (s-model only)• Windage Adjust• Two Way Remote (optional)• Hermetically Sealed• Angle Layout to 20 Sec (s-model only)• On Board Battery Pack• External 12V Operation

SINGLE GRADE DUAL GRADE

LEVEL

ProControl and ProSensors

Proportional Sensor and panel

Systems 360° Laser Control

• Constant Accuracy Band Control• Ultra-Bright LED Display• Rough / Fine Grade Bandwidths• Works with Electronic Mast Systems• Manual or

Fully Automated Systems• 360° Sensor• 100% Waterproof

Depthmaster 200 – SensorMachine Control Receiver

• Constant Accuracy Band control• Magnetic or bracket mounted• Patented plumb indicators• Ultra-bright LED displays

(front & back)• Self-contained

rechargeable battery pack• 100% Waterproof

Sonicmaster 2000 - Ultrasonic / Laser Control

• Complete Integrated System• Patented Triangulation Sensing• Automatic Blade Side Shift• String, Curb Edge, Flat Surface• Laser Control Compatible• Waterproof Components

Pavemaster - Ultrasonic Paver Control

• Total System Monitoring• Automatic Longitudinal

Alignment• Self Calibrating Bail• Four Set-up

Configurations• Works With Or Without

Control Panel• Optional Infrared

Remote Control

MACHINE CONTROL

GPS 3D Automatic Machine Control System

• The 3D Job Control Solution

• Accurate and repeatable grade everytime

• Submit precise bids from accurate estimates

Guided from earth’s orbit!

BE

SC

HN

ITT

196

mm

MACHINE CONTROL - TOTAL STATIONS

LMGS-P 3D Machine Guidance

for road pavers• Yields faster, easier and more precise paving.• Automatic height control and cross-slope regulation.

• Height accuracy within5mm.

• Continuous paving ispossible using a secondTotal Station.

• No installationof control strings.

LMGS-S Offers

the highest precision worldwide• Proven 50% reduction in site preparation,

and 20% productivity improvement.• Reduced down-time and

round-the-clock operatingpotential.

• Existing slip-form paverscan be upgraded to runwith our 3D MachineGuidance System.

• High paving accuracy:± 3mm in paving heightand ± 10mm in position

LMGS-G Increases

your work Quality and Performance• Only 1-2 passes to get to final grade.• Accuracy of ± 5mm/200 Meters in height and

± 10 mm/200 Meters for position.• Automatic compensation of mast tilt, longitudinally

and laterally, meaning,the blade’scutting/spreading angleis fully adjustable.

Asphalt

Concrete

Grading

Common Key Components

Automatic Total Station

360° Precision Prism

BE

SC

HN

ITT

196 mm

25

Geodata, and in particular remote sensing, play a significantrole in the accurate positioning of antenna locations and the modelling of signal reception in mobile phone serviceplanning. Using practically all the geodata available forSwitzerland, MFB-Geo-Consulting on behalf of Micatel worked out the principles for the positioning of the antennalocations and modelled the signal reception. The work wascarried out with Leica-Geosystems’ Erdas image processingsoftware. Erdas™ is the world’s leading product in the fieldof digital image processing and has modules for processingdigital raster data (especially satellite data) into 3-D visuali-sations (3D-GIS), for digital photogrammetry and stereo-scopy.

Digital satellite data from SPOT and Landsat-TM was usedas the basis for this work. The satellite data was geo- andortho-rectified using Erdas-Imagine and took into accountthe DHM25 digital terrain model from the Swiss topographyauthority. In addition, the panchromatic data from SPOT and the multi-spectral data from Landsat-TM were broughttogether using image processing techniques (RGB/HIStransformation) to form a 10 metre grid data set. Finally aland use map was created out of the satellite data. Statisticalclassification processes and automatic pattern recognitionwere used for extracting the required information. In addition, the information from the pixel maps, the Vector25national topography data records and the Swiss nationalstatistical office’s Geostat records was processed. The landuse classifications are user-specific and are intended toachieve improved modelling of signal reception. Take theclassification “Woodland” as an example: Woodlandabsorbs a great deal of energy from the antenna trans-missions, which has a detrimental effect on reception.

It was possible to visualise the data with Erdas-VGIS (3D-GIS) and thus successfully optimise antenna positio-ning. Erdas proved to be an efficient, powerful and user-friendly tool for processing the large quantity of data(approx. 600 Gbytes), for importing and converting datafrom various sources, and its visualisation. In future, thissystem is also to be used in micro-cell planning with highresolution satellite data (e.g. from Ikonos and QuickBird atgrid sizes of 1 m and 60 cm respectively). This data isobtainable with stereoscopic overlapping and allows 3-Durban models to be generated. Michael Baumgartner

No mobile phone signal dead spots thanks to ERDASremote sensing and image processing software

Laser Alignment accelerates construction With the acquisition of Laser Alignment Inc., Grand Rapids/Michigan, Leica Geosystems

extended its competence in the accurate 3-D control of machines on construction sites, in

mines and agriculture. Laser Alignment is one of the original and leading manufacturers

of red and green construction lasers for general construction, measurement and

positioning in structural and civil engineering, and is one of the pioneering companies in

this area. The extensive range of Laser Alignment laser based systems offers a variety of

positioning solutions for heighting, alignment and machine control.

Above: Visualisation of satellite data and DHM25. Centre: Visualisa-tion of land use, satellite data and DHM25. Below: Visualisation of antenna location and effective range, land use, satellite data andDHM25.

General Product Information

26

At the world-class internatio-nal decathlon meeting inGötzis (Austria), theorganisers took distancemeasurements with LeicaTCRA1103plus total stations.For the first time in thisevent a competitor exceededthe magical 9000 point mark.Czech athlete Roman Sebrlescored 9026 points. The pre-vious world record was heldby Tomas Dvorak with 8994

Werner Christes from LeicaGeosystems Heerbrugg assi-sted the Feldkirch geomaticsengineer Günter Lackner intaking the measurements.He worked in his own office(and still does) with anothermanufacturer’s instruments.However, he has now madean offer to buy one follo-wing his positive experien-ces with a TCRA1103pluswhilst measuring the world

Roman Sebrle was the first per-son to exceed the magical 9000points mark. The program for thedetermination of the height ofthe pole vault crossbar is alsostored in the Leica total station.

Below: The high jump anddiscus had already been measu-red using Leica total stations inthe previous year at Götzis usingreflectorless techniques.

Beijing Universiade uses Leica TCR700 measurements

The largest international student games, the “Universiade”,took place in August 2001 in Beijing. Leica systems

were used for recording all distance measurements. Themeasurements were taken with five instruments from

the 700 Series total stations and a TC305. Already in theprevious year, those working in the centre of the arena at

the national championships in Shanghai had learned toappreciate the Leica Geosystems equipment – especially inthe time saved in measuring and transferring the results on

to the big screen.

Sensational decathlon world rec

The 9026 point decathlon record at Götzis New Previous world record world record

World record holder Roman Sebrle Tomas Dvorak Venue 26/27.5.01 Götzis 03/04.07.99 PraguePoints score 9026 8994

Discipline: 100 metres: 10.64 seconds 10.54 secondsLong jump: 8.11 metres* 7.90 metresShot put: 15.33 metres* 16.78 metresHigh jump: 2.12 metres* 2.04 metres400 metres: 47.79 seconds 48.08 seconds110 metres hurdles: 13.92 seconds 13.73 secondsDiscus: 47.92 metres* 48.33 metresPole vault: 4.80 metres* 4.90 metresJavelin: 70.16 metres* 72.32 metres1500 metres: 4:21:98 minutes 4:37:20 minutes

* Measured using Leica TCRA1103plus

points, who, like the wholeof the world’s elite and ErkiNool, the gold medal winnerin Sydney, was there at thestart. This first-time breakingof the 9000 point barrier willgo into sporting history,together with the Leicadistance measurementinstruments.

record performances at theGötzis stadium. According tosurveying engineer Lackner:“The 200 metres reflector-less range of the LeicaTCRA1103plus is mostpersuasive! And here onsite, the speed of the measu-rements is impressive. Whatgives me further confidence

27

The DISTO™ is an easy to

operate handheld laser

meter with many functions

(e.g. area and volume calcu-

lations) and is suitable for all

building and tradesmen’s

activities. Depending on

the version, it can also be

programmed. With the

DISTO™ lite, the 4th gene-

ration of the DISTO™

handheld laser meter-family

now comprises four models.

The DISTO™ classic4 with itsmulti-functional end piecehas additional functions and can store values andconstants. With the DISTO™

memo4, all measuredlengths can be stored anddownloaded over a conven-tional interface on to a computer. All handheld lasermeters have a typicalaccuracy of ±3 mm. TheDISTO™ pro4 has anaccuracy of ±1.5 mm.

Below: Roman Sebrle and TomasDvorak are trained by VanaZdenec. The technical trainerwon a DISTO last year for beingthe most successful decathlontrainer. Vana Zdenek: “TomasDvorak built his house using theDISTO. It is an first class instru-ment. Even when I am trainingand wish to know exactly howhigh the bar is. It is just the job!”.

cord ...to change my system is thecomprehensive range ofaccessories available fromLeica Geosystems. We haveto be as versatile as possiblein our work – and for that agood accessory portfolio isvery important.”

DISTO™ – in fourversions

America’s highest peak now measures 6962 metres!

At 6,962 Metres on Aconcagua inJanuary 2001: Climber GianpetroVerza has just mounted the terre-strial reflector signal to enable theclassical terrestrial survey withtacheometres from the valley, andhe has fixed on the top the LeicaGPS 530 antenna. This configura-tion allowed at the same time mea-surement in both technologies withhigh accuracy. Verza has put theLeica GPS530 terminal, the sameequipment as used on Kilimanjaro,before him on the summit.

The highest mountain of

the Americas is only 38.17

meters short of seven

thousand. The indications

on maps of the precise

elevation of America’s

highest peak, Mt Aconca-

gua, will have to be correc-

ted and increased by two

metres. This is the result of

an Italian-Argentinian

Scientific Expedition led by

Geologist Giorgio Poretti.

Previously mapped at a

height of 6959.75 metres

this highest mountain of the

southern hemisphere has

been re-measured using

the most modern global

positioning (Leica GPS530)

and terrestrial surveying

methods and results reveal

that it is 6961.83 metres

above sea level.

The 7242 kilometre-longAndes are the longestmountain chain in the world.The Swiss Matthias Zurbriggen was the firstman to conquer Aconcaguaon 14 January 1897. In 2001it was with the most modernGPS measurement techno-logy from Switzerland, thatthe exact mountain heightwas re-determined.

Scientists of Poretti’s expedi-tion team have been verykeenly awaiting the newresults to find out if theyreveal the "shrinking" trendof the previously re-survey-ed peaks in Asia and Africa.This, however, was not thecase, but the results still donot indicate that the Andesare growing at a greater ratethan the Himalyas. The newresults give no indicationwhether the earlier Acon-cagua measurements wereinaccurate, nor whether the

mountains are “growing” or "shrinking". From now on,however, with technologyand systems providing areproducible accuracy of afew millimetres, it will bepossible to precisely measu-re the summits and recordtheir vertical and horizontalmovements.

After Mt Everest and

Mt Kilimanjaro now also

Aconcagua

In the past, highly precisemeasurements of theworld’s summits were notpossible due to technolo-gical limitations. However,with the emergence in thepast decade of extremelyaccurate GPS surveyingequipment, there has been a drive to re-survey and confirm the exact heights of the tallest peaks in eachof the continents. Asia’s Mt Everest and Africa’s Mt Kilimanjaro have been

re-surveyed using the sameGPS equipment from LeicaGeosystems.

On Mt Everest, re-measuredin 1992 by an Italian-Chinese-Nepalese team alsoled by Professor GiorgioPoretti, the elevation of thehighest peak of our globereached 8846 metres, whichwas actually two metreslower than previously map-ped. The same happenedwith Mt Kilimanjaro in 1999,where a German-Tanzanianteam, led by EberhardMessmer, came to the con-clusion that this volcano wasin fact 5893 metres abovesea level, two metres lessthan before.

The highest mountains on the continents

Continent Highest Mountain Height above sea level

Asia Mt Everest 8846 metres*America (south) Mt Aconcagua 6962 metres*

(north) Mt McKinley 6194 metres**Africa Mt Kilimanjara 5892 metres*Antarctica Mt Vinson 5140 metres**Europe (Caucasus) Mt Elbrus 5642 metres**

(Alps) Mont Blanc 4810 metres**Australiasia/Oceania Carstensz Pyramid 4884 metres**

Australia Mt Kosciusko 2230 metres*** Already re-measured with Leica GPS 300/500** Measured with Leica theodolites during the 20th century

Mt.Blanc measured with Leica GPS

Bavarian Surveying Authority celebrates its 200 anniversary

The results of the Aconca-gua measurement are extremely accurate. Similarto the Mt Everest campaign,the experienced Poretti teamof geologists, glaciologists,surveyors and climbers usedthe most precise terrestrialinstruments available today (Leica T2002/DI3000Tacheometres) and the mostadvanced systems for GPSsurveying (Leica GPS530).

Three metres higher thancurrently stated in maps, isthe elevation of the highestpeak of the Alps, MontBlanc. Its height above meansea level was defined on 8 September 2001 with aLeica GPS500 as a result of a survey campaign carriedout by the National FrenchSurveying Authority (IGN).

The measurement revealeda result of 4810.4 metres.The Surveying Certificate issigned by Pierre Bibollet,President Savoy GeomètreAssociation, Michel Kasser,Director Geodesy IGN, andMichel Gouinguené, SurveyExpert and Director LeicaGeosystems France.

A rare event indeed – acustomer turns 200! LeicaGeosystems was able to congratulate one of its mostimportant customers – theBavarian Surveying Autho-rity, Munich, Germany – onits recent Jubilee. Leica GPSand TPS stations arestandard in the free state ofBavaria.

The Bavarian Surveying Authority was derived fromthe Topographical Bureau,which was founded on 19 June 1801 by King Max IVJoseph. The TopographicalBureau’s task was to surveyand map the Kingdom of

Bavaria. Based on a highlyaccurate database, the Bavarian Surveying Autho-rity today provides acomprehensive spectrum ofmaps ranging from localplans to digital selections viathe Internet. A book with thesubtitle ”There is a size/unity/measure in all things!”has been published and can be found athttp://www.bayern.de/vermessung. From the times of the Royal

Topographic Bureau 1801: measurement of the base linebetween Munich-Erding. Thepoles were made from the woodof the fir tree – today it’s a laserarray.

30

Radio link closes gap between field TCA1103 stationand office

In the last thirty years, there have been enormous ad-

vances in performing topographic survey. The Surveyor’s

field work has evolved from being totally manual – setting

up baselines, running direct levels and pulling tapes, and

plotting locations by hand – to the introduction of compact

electronic total stations and computers.

who is keeping the fieldbook and running the rodcannot see the locations ashe or she completes them.

CSEI approached TommyDudley of Earl Dudley & Associates, regional Leicarepresentatives. Dudley,along with representativesof Carlson Software, workedtogether to provide a solu-tion. After much planningand trials, the team establi-shed a radio link between a Leica TCA 1103 Roboticinstrument and a mobilelaptop operating CarlsonSoftware.

This innovation allowedCESI’s Crew Chief, Cecil Porter, to walk freely aroundthe site and control the instrument via a laptopmounted on the pole orstrapped to the waist. Hewas able to determine thefeatures to locate and immediately see the resultsdisplayed on the laptop.

“It won't be long before Ican perform various types ofsurveys without the help of

anyone or anything exceptthis equipment andcomputer,” Porter said.

So far, one of the most successful projects inutilising this system hasbeen a topographic surveyfor facility improvements tothe intersection of NC 73and International Drive inConcord, North Carolina.This is a congested and heavily travelled corridor,linking two boomingcommunities in Cabarrusand Mecklenburg countiesas well as the expandingInternational Business Parkat Concord.

The client, the City of Concord, required CESI tocollect accurate and com-plete data within a shortallotted time schedule andavoiding interference withtraffic. The project involvedmany different items forfield crews to locate and sur-vey, including the creation ofa digital terrain model of theexisting pavement and ofthe areas to be widened, themaking of property ties, andthe location of gravity andnon-gravity utilities.

“We were able to load thelimits of the survey on thelaptop so the Crew Chiefcould see when the targetedarea was covered,” JamesCraddock, Project Managerof CESI said. “As the pave-ment was located, it wasalso drawn and displayed onthe laptop in real time.Breaklines, utilities, groundshots and physical featureswere all located andappeared so that positioningand accuracy of data couldbe checked.”

When the Crew Chief hadfinished with locations, hewas able to use Carlson Sur-vey to process the T-net andcheck the contours to see ifthey appeared correct or ifhe needed to obtain more

However, these advanceshave not been without theirproblems. Traditionally,there has been a communi-cations gap from havingfield crews perform the fieldlocations and survey techni-cians perform the officecomputations. These aremostly associated with theamount and location of thedata collected in the fieldand are not necessarily recognised until the data isprocessed and the officetechnician attempts to putthe project together. Returntrips to the field to correcterrors in data or to gathermore data can be very costlyto the project budget andcan affect both the quality ofthe map and the projectschedule.

As experienced engineeringand surveying professionals,Concord Engineering & Surveying Inc. (CESI) inNorth Carolina, have a wideexpertise and knowledge-base and always strive to be at the forefront of usingnew technology, activelylooking for ways to improveaccuracy and efficiency oftheir engineering andsurveying work.

CESI decided that one significant improvement tosurveying work would be todevise a way to allowsurveyors to see what theyare locating at the sametime as they perform thefieldwork. Although laptopcomputers are now beingused in the field, the com-puter must be connected directly to the instrument,meaning that the Crew Chief

31

locations to define a moredetailed area. Using thistechnique, the fieldworkwent smoothly and quickly.

Although the fieldwork tookabout the same amount oftime to complete, the diffe-rence was that the crew wasable to actually “see” whatthey were surveying in realtime as they located featuresin the field. The most significant timesavings wererealised in the office, as thedata came in from fieldessentially already “proces-sed”. This meant greatly-reduced computation time

and the elimination of costlyreturn trips to collect data.

”The only task left to com-plete the project was toimport the drawing and finalise the digital terrainmodel,” Craddock said. “Inusing this new system tosurvey a site, the office computations time was cutin half, thus offering bothtime and money saving tothe client.” Bt

Leica Geosystems’DataPro to be inte-grated with CAiCE’sVisual SurveySoftware Leica Geosystems has

entered into a Cooperative

Software Development

Agreement with CAiCE

Software Corporation to

integrate Leica’s TPS

DataPro data collection

system with CAiCE’s Visual

Survey Software. This inte-

gration will enable direct

output from Leica TPS1100

Total Stations, GPS System

500 as well as TPS700 and

300 instruments to CAiCE

via the Survey Data Mana-

gement System (SDMS)

data format. This direct out-

put to CAiCE will eliminate

the client’s need for additio-

nal cost and data transla-

tions.

TPS DataPro is a softwarerunning onboard TPS1100 tosimplify the data collectionprocess for surveyors, andto write data directly to theformats required by themajor packages in the USand Canada.

CAiCE has added to theirsoftware some functionalitythat reads the so-calledSDMS data format, whichcan be produced using TPSDataPro on TPS1100, and byusing the flexible output for-mat functionality from GPSSystem 500 and TPS700 and300.

The objective of the deve-lopment agreement is toprovide Leica and CAiCEusers a streamlined metho-dology for data collectionimport, processing, and sub-sequent export for stakingpurposes. By minimising thenumber of steps in theseprocesses, both ease of useand survey data integrity aregreatly increased.

10,000 TH LeicaNA2002 Digital LevelLeica Geosystems and NewJersey Department of Trans-portation (NJDOT) officialsrecognised the 10,000thLeica NA2002 Digital Level at NJDOT in Trenton, NewJersey.

The NA2002 unit bearing se-rial number 10,000 was partof a purchase of 18 Leicadigital levels that will beused for checking and benchruns on projects alongsideNew Jersey highways andinterstates. The Leica NA2002Digital Level uses digitalelectronic image processingfor determining heights anddistances and records theresults automatically in aREC module that can bedownloaded to a computer.The accuracy and speed inuse are better than a traditio-nal level because it elimina-tes human error in thereading and the processingof the gathered data. Thelevel can be used for allaspects of highway sur-veying, for second to fourthorder levelling, and topo-graphic and constructionsurveying.

“The NA2002 Digital Levelachieves time savings of upto 50% over conventionalequipment. All of the mainsteps in the operation of thelevel, such as reading thestaff, recording the data andcomputing the results, arecompletely automated, elimi-nating errors in reading andrecording of the data,” saidJ. Eric Kraehenbuehl, NJDOT.

A dynamic team: Chuck Brewster,Marion Saudlin, Alex Raukin, Jim Craddock, Glen Gamble, andJim Davis.

Martin Nix, VP BusinessDevelopment Leica Geosystems,(right) hands the NA2002 over toEric Kraehenbuehl, ManagerSurvey Services NJDOT .

Geosystems

A Wider Perspective in all Dimensions

Leica Geosystems AG Mönchmattweg 5 CH-5035 Unterentfelden Switzerland Phone +41 62 737 67 67 Fax +41 62 723 07 34 www.leica-geosystems.com

Committed to Innovation

With state-of-the-art laser technologysolutions from Leica Geosystems’Industrial Measurement Systems Division, operators gain a widerperspective in construction, qualitycontrol, and reverse engineering.

Based on a strong commitment toquality and innovation, we provideour customers with the latest technology and know-how relevant to operations and markets.And by focusing on reliability and innovation, we open up newdimensions in your work.

Leica Industrial Measurement Systems