PROJECT EXPERIENCE:
USGS Drive, High Definition LIDAR Scan
Location: FAIRFAX COUNTY, VA

Project Background: The United States Geological Survey (USGS) maintains its headquarters and an eastern region facility in Reston, VA. The USGS was established in 1879 and since that time has remained an agency within the Department of the Interior.

The USGS is the Nation's largest water, earth, and biological science and civilian mapping agency and is responsible for collecting, monitoring, analyzing, and providing scientific understanding about natural resource conditions, issues, and problems.

Work Performed: Rice Associates was enlisted to perform a route location survey along USGS drive to aid in the planning and design of a new road. Although USGS drive serves as a primary entrance to the campus, it is also a busily traveled "cut through" road for the public between Sunrise Valley and South Lakes Drive near Reston Parkway.

This survey assignment was performed by primarily utilizing high definition, ground based LIDAR scanning techniques. The rationale for this approach was twofold, to ensure the safety of survey personnel and to overcome high canopy conditions which would have produced a photogrammetric product with numerous obscured areas.

By means of field reconnaissance it was determined that the open terrain under the canopy could be obtained most practically and with minimal interference by ground based scanning.

This project also had serious budget constraints and the client wanted to secure as much raw scan data as possible thus minimizing cost in the front end. The intent was to utilize limited amounts of collected data for planning purposes and going back to obtain more detail as the project progressed from the already captured and stored data. Scanning proved to be the ideal solution for the USGS Drive survey.