Rick Lake, PresidentRob Andrews, Quality Control Manager

Who we are

The Western Utility Group was established 30 years ago. Since

moving into locating over 15 years ago, we have built valuable

relationships with dozens of major utilities and engineering

firms, as well of hundreds of private clients.

Our goal is to continue to innovate and provide cutting edge

products to our clients

Topics to Cover

▪ How we do aerial

photography

▪ What are the end benefits to

our clients

Methods of Aerial Photography

▪ Introduction and Advantages of the Quadcopter and the

Telescoping Mast

▪ How We Capture Data

▪ How We Combine the Data

▪ Advanced Capabilities

Telescoping Mast Data

Aerial Photography: Telescoping Mast

▪ Easily controlled and highly portable

▪ Has less deployment restrictions

than the quadcopter.

▪ Height up to: 70ft / 21.35m

▪ Higher resolution camera

Telescoping Mast Data

● Photos taken from a bird's eye view

● Multiple photos taken in sequence

● Photos stitched together to create large mosaic

● Photos and offsets enhanced in post processing

Telescoping Mast Data

● Mosaic gives large overview of

underground utilities

● Useful for planning

● Very high resolution of mosaic allows user to

zoom in with greater detail

Telescoping Mast Data

● Low-res satellite map provides

background for mosaic

● Allows user to better understand location

surroundings

Telescoping Mast Data: Examples

Aerial Photography: Quadcopter

▪ Staff trained and certified

with Restricted Radio

Operator's Certificate

(required to fly by Transport

Canada)

▪ We meet all guidelines set in

place by Transport Canada

Quadcopter Data

● Permitted to fly up to

300 feet

● Greater field of view

● Camera is of a lesser

resolution than the mast

Quadcopter Data

● Larger projects

can be easily

completed with

multiple photos

● Photos are

stitched together

in post

processing

Quadcopter Data

● Markers enhance the

underground utilities so

they can be more easily

distinguished

● Post processing

increases visibility

Quadcopter Data

● Post-processing enhances the visibility of

the offsets

● Clients can easily find underground utilities

after paint has faded

Quadcopter Data: Example X3

Quadcopter Data: Example X2

Quadcopter Data: Examples

Quadcopter Data: Examples

● Drone Data and Mast Data merged

Quadcopter Data: Examples

● Drone Data and Mast Data merged

Quadcopter Data: Examples

● Drone Data and Mast Data merged

How We Capture Data

● Telescoping Mast

○ No government restrictions

○ Smaller field of view, more setup time

○ Requires more post-processing to account for

distortion

● Quadcopter

○ Requires certification and has flight restrictions

○ Wider shots

Advanced Capabilities

▪ Introduction

▪ Orthomosaics

▪ Point Clouds

Quadcopter Advanced Data

▪ Data can be turned into

geo-referenced 2D and

3D models

Quadcopter Advanced Data

● Geo-referenced orthomosaics

can be outputted in many

formats: DSM, DTM, CAD,

textured 3d models, point

clouds

Quadcopter: Elevation Data

● Drone data can be

processed to

supply client with

geo-referenced

elevation profiles

Quadcopter: Elevation Data

Quadcopter Data: Orthomosaics

● Example from earlier

● Combination of 3D

point cloud with

original images

● Underground utilities

are marked out by

creating polylines

Quadcopter Data: Orthomosaics

● Geo-referenced

Polylines can be

exported into many

different formats

● Formats include:

○ ESRI Shapefiles

○ AutoCAD DXF

○ Keyhole Markup

Language(KML)

○ Microstation DGN

3D Point Cloud: Western Locates example

3D Point Cloud : Mission example

3D Point Cloud: University example

Quadcopter Data: 3D Point Cloud

● All geo-referenced

data can be used to

measure offsets

digitally

● Underground utilities

can be relocated

with much more

accuracy

Benefits To Our Clients

▪ Damage Prevention

▪ Planning

▪ Legal

Documentation

Damage Prevention-Site Sketches

▪ Client may have problems interpreting

sketch

▪ Sketch may miss crucial details

▪ Not nearly as good as a photograph

Legal Documentation

Picture of line hit

Legal Documentation

Picture of original locate

Legal Documentation

Picture of line hit

Legal Documentation

Picture of original locate

Legal Documentation

Picture of line hit

Legal Documentation

Picture of original locate

Damage Prevention-Aerial Photograph

▪ 100% accurate data of the

locate and the work area

▪ Less interpretation for

client

Damage Prevention-Aerial Photograph

▪ Aids in damage

investigation

▪ Prevents unscrupulous

clients from repainting lines

▪ Court Ready Legal

documentation

Planning

▪ Clients will get to see

recent photo, compare

their proposed work to

what’s actually in the

ground

Questions?

● Thank you!