University of Southern Queensland students gain access to modern survey and mapping instruments as the University upgrades its technology fleet with Aptella. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umyI93x2A2g With more than 650 survey and spatial science students, the University of Southern Queensland (USQ) has the largest surveying degree program in Australia. To offer students practical training in modern surveying techniques and ensure they are ready for the world of work, having access to the latest equipment is imperative. Recently, USQ upgraded its entire fleet of total stations, GNSS, and field tablets, along with new 3D laser scanners, CAD office software and field software, all supplied and supported by solution provider Aptella. “Industry expects students to have been exposed to the equipment that they
“If it’s got a cutting edge and it moves dirt, we can measure it” Gary Roberto Jay Jeff Some of Aptella’ most experienced field technicians and installers look back on unique and challenging jobs they’ve had over the years. With more than 30 years in the industry of fitting machine guidance technology to earthmoving and mining plant, Aptella has forged a reputation for getting even the most challenging and unique machines up and running, often when they’ve never been done or attempted before. Gary Campbell, General Manager for the company’s Integrated Solutions Group, says that although machine manufacturers are now offering integrated machine systems as something relatively ‘new,’ Aptella has had this capability for years. “We’ve been integrating
What is construction site set out technology? String lines have been an integral part of the construction industry for as long as most foremen, builders, and contractors can remember. Nearly 90% of Australian building sites currently make use of string line technology for setting out. The principal drawback of string lines is the potential for small errors to have frustrating consequences. A small measurement error can potentially prove to be costly and time-consuming. Subcontractors are responsible for setting out accurate measurements on 60% of Australian building sites. Unfortunately, we are currently experiencing a shortage of around 1,500 surveyors nationally. This is making the process of getting a surveyor to set out a site in a timely fashion more
Andrew Granger is the business manager for mining, solar and landfill solutions at Aptella. Here, he outlines the key benefits to implementing GPS machine guidance on landfill sites. As the population grows, so too does the demand for waste management facilities. The pressure is on our industry to ensure landfill management is as efficient and productive as possible, maximising every potential to save on space, time, and resources. Accurate and optimised compaction is critical to delivering on these goals. Are you using GPS to manage your compaction? Poor compaction exposes a landfill site to numerous risks, including inefficient airspace use, greater settlement, and shortened cell life, all leading to lost time and money. Relying solely on an operator’s
Introducing construction set out Have you ever tasked your skilled tradesmen with hours of set out, painstakingly using a string line and tape measures? Or forked out hundreds in labour costs, only to discover your work was out by a few critical millimetres? Suffered extra project time re-doing your work, or trying to organise a surveyor to come to site? You are not alone. An estimated 90% of construction sites Australia-wide are still using string lines and a tape measure for set out. This leads to measurement mistakes, which leads to project delays and an increase in project costs to fix these mistakes. Surely there’s an easier way. That’s why Aptella is offering a hassle-free, easy, construction set
July 2021 has seen the NSW government shut down all construction works across the Sydney, Central Coast, Blue Mountains and Wollongong areas. Amongst organising site-security and shut down, head contactors and the sub-contractors that were mobilised onsite are now in planning mode. What will the re-opening of construction sites look like? When will this occur and in what capacity? How will we re-mobilise, get back to the works that were halted, and most importantly how will we be able to get back on-time and on-schedule. One of the considerations will be ‘do we need to create a new schedule for the build or try to catch up on lost time and meet the previous contracted schedule?’ The Topcon
Lauren Baguley, Surveyor, Fyfe was looking for an alternative to UHF when working in the highly vegetated and hilly regions, particularly in the Pilliga Forest near Narrabri, when she was introduced to MiRTK internet enabled corrections from Aptella by a colleague. Ms Baguley and her team focuses on surveying and aerial mapping within the agricultural, construction and mining industries for the Narrabri area. “We do struggle with UHF when we’re out in the scrubby country around here, it’s quite hilly. Where there’s a lot of vegetation, sometimes we can’t even get a kilometre away from the base so there’s a lot of leap frogging going on and having to set up the base multiple times is painful when
This highly efficient 2D laser scanner is made for mobile mapping applications and with its scan rate of more than 1 million points/sec. and scanning speed up to 267 profiles/sec., very short distances between profiles can be achieved even at a high speed of a moving platform. The PROFILER 9020 offers significant accuracy and speed improvements over the previous generation 9012, in a form factor that is 50% smaller and lighter,” said Geoffrey Preece, Market Development Manager – Scanning, Aptella. The PROFILER features a new and very powerful laser technology as well as further developed algorithms that ensures highly accurate measurement results on rails, roads, street signs and other traffic control systems, such as traffic lights. “The PROFILER
