are now comparable to the historical
price of one annual count. Significant
advances in image processing,
software as a service (SaaS), drones
and phones make this possible.
Manual photogrammetric processes
of the past are now fully automated
thanks to advances in image
processing and computer vision.
High-quality cameras embedded in
drones, attached to planes and built
into mobile phones are more available
and easier to use than traditionally
higher-cost GPS and laser-based
measurement technologies. The
combination of high-quality low-cost
cameras, combined with advanced
image processing enable rapid
low-cost 3D modelling from imagery.
Volumetric measurements generated
from imagery are now an accepted
form of aerial survey.
SaaS is a way of delivering
applications over the internet as a
service. Instead of installing and
maintaining software, companies
simply access it via the internet,
freeing themselves from complex
software and hardware management.
SaaS companies leverage cloud
computing to cost effectively scale
operations to meet customer demand.
Leveraging SaaS, image processing,
airplanes, drones and phones makes it
possible to accelerate the speed and
reduce the cost of physical inventory
counts. The time to perform an
inventory count is now only limited by
how fast the imagery of stockpiles can
be collected. Airplanes can be used to
quickly take aerial images of hundreds
of sites across geographically
dispersed operations. Drones used by
trained professionals – internal staff or
external service providers – can be
used to obtain aerial images at
localised sites. And now even a phone
can be used.
Using a combination of SaaS and
image capture methods makes it
possible to complete a company wide
inventory in 3 – 5 days. Thousands of
stockpile measurements can be
generated from millions of images in
just 24 hr. Finance and operations
employees quickly review and
approve data via a common website
with no need to manually enter or
transfer data.
Putting it all together
StockpileReports.com was launched in
2013 by experienced scientists and
engineers in the computer vision field
to help companies achieve accurate,
perpetual inventories through more
frequent physical inventory counts.
Subscription-based software, along
with project management and
consulting services, are provided by
the company to enable companies to
perform a fast and low-cost physical
inventory count. The web portal
allows employees to successfully plan
the count, perform the count and
review and approve the results.
Software is provided that enables
customers to collect their own imagery
using drones and iPhones. To
completely eliminate field labour,
customers can choose to leverage a
fleet of over 35 aircraft to rapidly
capture aerial images across
North America. Now physical
inventories that used to take
companies 3 – 5 weeks – or even three
months for large nationwide
operations – can be completed in
3 – 5 days.
Case study
Amultinational materials company
that manufactures and
distributes cement, ready-mix
concrete, aggregates and materials
including coal, recently approached
Stockpile Reports searching for a
solution to reduce time and costs
associated with inventory
measurements across multiple sites.
The company had been performing
inventory counts on multiple sites and
A 3D model of a coal stockpile, used for generating volume reports by Stockpile Reports.
March 2016
|
World Coal
|
67
