Josh Nimetz, Merrick's LiDAR / Imaging Technical Lead gave the following presentation at the Optech Imaging and LiDAR Solutions Conference (ILSC) in Toronto, Ontario on June 26, 2013.

1. Value-added
Applications for
Optech Sensors
GEOSPATIAL SOLUTIONS
Optech ILSC
June 26, 2013
Engineering | Architecture | Design-Build | Surveying | Planning | GeoSpatial Solutions

2. Presentation Overview

Summary of Merrick & Company GeoSpatial Market Sector Team

A brief background on the data - the 2011 NERC alert mandate

The Merrick suite of remote sensors optimized for data collection of
electric transmission facilities

The MARS® tools designed for production and analyses of
transmission facilities data

Power line detection and QA/QC tools

Power line LiDAR QC report - report on LAS statistics (by Tile)

Optimum image selection tool
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3. Merrick & Company Office Locations
500 employees at 12 National
and 4 International offices
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4. GeoSpatial Solutions & Capabilities

LiDAR acquisition & processing
(airborne)

High Definition Scanning (terrestrial)

Photogrammetric mapping

Imagery acquisition & processing

RGB

Multispectral

Satellite imagery

MARS® software

Application development

Programming

MARS® LiDAR processing
software

Unlimited Detail Data
Visualization and Management
- Euclideon Geoverse

Surveying

UAS mapping
Hyperspectral

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Thermal

Orthophoto processing

Multi-sensor data fusion
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5. GeoSpatial Solutions Market Sector Team Facts
Number of Professionals: 56
BU Leader

Brian Raber, CMS, GISP, GISS – Vice President
Disciplines

Photogrammetry, LiDAR, Satellite Imagery, GIS Solutions, Remote
Sensing, Software Development & Sales
Key Offices


Greenwood Village, CO
Colorado Springs, CO

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Guadalajara and Mexico City
Albuquerque, NM
Markets
 Local Government (11%)
($18.7 million  Federal Government (9%)
Sales – FY2013  Private (2%)
ending 04/13)



Core Clients
Water (4%)
Energy (40%)
International: (34%)

TVA, USGS, FEMA, TNRIS
Xcel, Tri‐State, WAPA, Idaho Power, PNM
SEMAR, INEGI
CFE, PEMEX



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Cook County, IL., Tallahassee, FL
NRCS Nebraska / Oklahoma
USACE Mobile, Omaha Districts
HDR,URS

6. National Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC)
National Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC), entity empowered by the
U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).
Image courtesy of Argonne National Labs
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7. NERC Mandate - April 2011
Electric power transmission owners survey actual field conditions to determine
electric power transmission facilities (> 100 kV) are built as designed and to
ensure compliance with reliability standards.
Image courtesy of http://www.technet.pnnl.gov/sensors/electronics/projects/images/electronics477_large.jpg
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8. NERC Mandate - April 2011
Electric power transmission owners survey actual field conditions to determine
electric power transmission facilities (> 100 kV) are built as designed and to
ensure compliance with reliability standards.
Toronto, on evening of August 14, 2003 blackout
Image courtesy Wikipedia
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9. Why LiDAR Technology?

Repeatable, accurate, and dependable technology

Cost effective for system/large circuits

Technology very good at collecting and measuring transmission features:
structures, insulators, attachment points, vegetation, and ground
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10. 
Typical LiDAR densities for electric power line collection range from 20-30+
points per square meter

In general, the more density the better for feature collection, definition,
and extraction
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11. Merrick’s Helicopter Suite of Sensors

2010 - Merrick integrates a suite of sensors onboard a helicopter platform

Designed to fulfill the aerial mapping needs of our electric transmission clients
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12. Merrick’s Helicopter Suite of Sensors
A TAC 60 MP nadir camera
(for visible color orthos)
(2) CS-4800 interline CCD cameras,
forward oblique
Orion C200 LiDAR system
CS-MS1920 false color infrared interline
transfer CCD (810, 550, 670 nm)
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13. Merrick’s Helicopter Suite of Sensors
AIMMS 20 meteorological sensor
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Cloud Cap gimbaled
video camera

14. Merrick’s Helicopter Suite of Sensors
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15. Merrick’s Advanced Remote Sensing (MARS®) software
Data visualization, management & processing application

Developed specifically for LiDAR data in 2002

Merrick’s Production Engine for processing LiDAR data

MARS® license and technical support included with project
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16. Merrick’s Advanced Remote Sensing Software (MARS®)
Application Highlights

Stand-alone software application, no third party software required

No file size limitation

Rapid response to customized programming needs

Allows multi-core data processing to maximize performance of PC
hardware

Provides support for WMS imagery (ex. Bing Maps)

Visualize & process airborne, terrestrial & mobile LiDAR datasets

Natively supports LiDAR (LAS v1.1 – v1.4, imagery (RGB &
hyperspectral, thermal) and GIS vector datasets – Data Fusion

Robust QC Module for USGS specifications
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17. Merrick MARS® software for electric transmission
facilities data post-processing.

Power line detection and QA/QC tools

Power line LiDAR QC report - report on LAS statistics (by
Tile)

Optimum image selection tool
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18. MARS® Power Line Tool
For the point cloud classification of transmission facilities
and QA / QC of classification results.
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19. MARS® Power Line Tool
For the point cloud classification of transmission facilities
and QA / QC of classification results.
Workflow

Begin with centerline file and bare earth points to seed the process

Test filter settings in localized area. Once optimized…
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Line / facilities detection filter over larger region

QA / QC windows are launched for manual clean-up

Attachment points are classified
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20. MARS® Power Line Tool
For the point cloud classification of transmission facilities
and QA / QC of classification results.
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21. MARS® Power Line Tool
QA / QC Viewer
Primary MARS® data window
Copyright © 2013 Merrick & Company - All rights reserved.
QA / QC tower front view
QA / QC tower nadir view
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QA / QC tower side view
QA / QC structure to
structure span view

22. MARS® Power Line Tool
QA / QC Viewer

Each window is dynamic

Points can be filtered and view extents, scale and rotation can be changed
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23. MARS® Power Line QC report - Report on LAS Statistics (by Tile)
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24. MARS® Power Line QC report - Report on LAS Statistics (by Tile)
Black line items: Points exist on a required class.
We expect to have points on this class.
Teal line items: Points do not exist on a required class.
This flags a potential issue. Classification of the
transmission facilities is incomplete.
Red line items: Points exist on a non-required class.
Another potential issue. This may be okay for outlier or
erroneous points.
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25. MARS® Optimum Image Selection Tool
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26. MARS® Optimum Image Selection Tool

Begin with a calibrated camera model

Create an exterior orientation file with
position and attitude for each image
exposure station

Project the image footprint on to a
surface

Surface must be in same coordinate
system / units as LiDAR bare earth
In Optimum Image Selection Tool

Image with shortest slant-range to given
horizontal coordinate (E, N) is selected

Image ID is either written to point
shapefile attribute table or called up in
viewer window
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27. MARS® Optimum Image Selection Tool
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28. MARS® Optimum Image Selection Tool
Calibrated exterior orientation file for aft oblique camera.
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29. MARS® Optimum Image Selection Tool
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30. MARS® Optimum Image Selection Tool
Projected aft oblique image footprints in OrthoMaster.
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31. MARS® Optimum Image Selection Tool
Projected aft oblique image footprints cleaned up for export.
Note the images captured during the turn have been omitted
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32. MARS® Optimum Image Selection Tool
An image footprint file
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33. MARS® Optimum Image Selection Tool
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34. MARS® Optimum Image Selection Tool

An output transmission tower shapefile attributed with the optimum
oblique image pair

The optimum oblique image captures the structure with the highest
resolution possible (i.e. nearest to the heel of the oblique)
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38. Thank you….any questions?
Josh Nimetz, CMS
Merrick & Company
303-353-3650
josh.nimetz@merrick.com
For MARS® sales and technical support, contact:
Mark Stucky, GISP
Merrick & Company
303-353-3662
mark.stucky@merrick.com
www.merrick.com
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