Measure the volume of a fill or a cut in a quarry with Almagest Volume Measurement app

Do you work in a quarry and need to measure the volume of a fill or a cut? Or do you need a digital terrain model (DTM), and the surveyor won’t arrive soon, but you need the result right now?

 

The application Almagest Volume Measurement allows you to measure the area, volume of section bounded by a maximum of 300 points connected by straight lines in real time. These points must be measured, or taken from memory, or set via the keyboard. The measured area is projected onto an inclined reference plane defined by its points (3D). Volumes are automatically measured by calculating the digital terrain model (DTM) in the local coordinate system, where the first base point is taken as the origin.

The method commonly used to calculate earthwork volumes is the triangular prisms method.

This method starts by triangulating the existing terrain. This involves joining the points in the terrain to create a continuous surface of connected triangles. This is known as a Triangulated Irregular Network (TIN). The next stage is to merge these two triangulations to create a third triangulation that contains all the edges of the original triangulations. This will be used to perform the calculations. Merging the two input triangulations means that every detail of both the existing and the proposed will be included in the calculations.

The triangular prism method has several advantages over other methods. First and foremost, it is the most mathematically complete of the three. Since every detail of the existing and proposed terrain is retained in the merged triangulation, nothing is lost in these calculations. All other methods accept a certain degree of loss due to details falling within the density of the grids or cross sections. Another advantage of this method is that you can represent the finest level of detail, even if a site is very large. With the triangular prism method, the finest level of detail can be represented even in very large sites

 

When importing to the application, points  P,Lat,Lon,H
format are usually used 
48.55.63957944.38.36219238.121.9406 format
49,55.63950989,38.36229275,121.9406
Which exports the GNSS device to the Geographic datum WGS84

But it's also possible to work in local coordinate system: to do this, you need to load at least one arbitrary point P, Lat, Lon, H into the group of base points (you can do it at least at the equator, then 0,0,0,0) , and then load points in local coordinates in the format P X Y H (you’ll have to separate by spaces 44 456.56 -856.34 111.55).

 

Operating procedure:

 

1. Wait for the fixed GPS position when the status icon on the top left is no longer visible.

 

It is better to start from the middle of the foundation contour, since the application will not allow you to record a point if it is 1 km away from the first point. You need to go around the perimeter of the embankment (points are allowed inside, for a more detailed survey of the foundation, when the embankment is not filled out yet).

 

Press "v" to save the survey at the end of the survey of the foundation contour or in the process of it.

 

2. When you click on it, you will be prompted to edit the captured points (pink background of the foundation points), if you don't need to edit, click the "v" button again and proceed to shooting the fill points (blue background when editing). The points of the fill should not go beyond the contour of the foundation! It will remind you once your position goes out of the boundary to ensure your work is limited in a predetermined area. Press "v" to save the shooting at the end of shooting the points of the fill or in the process of shooting. The presented list of points allows you to view all the points, and by clicking the line you can edit the point (you can change the latitude-longitude "LL", as well as the cartesian coordinates "XYZ", but not more than for 1000 m. Editing can be useful, for example, when we know that the foundation points are located at the same level, but GPS accuracy is not exact to solve this result, and manual editing allows you to specify the location of points. (Manually editing points and using polar coordinates also allows you to shoot terrain by squares).

 

N. B. It is advisable to conduct high-precision GPS surveys connecting to external RTK GPS receivers through Bluetooth.

 

The latest stage of accuracy enhancement uses the L5 band and is now fully deployed. GPS receivers released in 2019 that use the L5 band can have much higher accuracy, pinpointing to within 30 centimeters or 11.8 inches.

 

3.      In the next window, you can change the project name and add notes. Import/export points (in P, Lat, Lon, H format). Along with exporting to TXT, script * export of *.SCR is available (a set of commands for building a surface from 3DFace to Autocad. You need to drag from Explorer to Autocad desktop and the surface will be built automatically) [3]

 

- clicking "Results" opens a new window with an already built triangulation that is available for:

 

- when you click on the Edge, it changes colour to red and the button of “swap edge” becomes active. If swap is possible in this triangulation, clicking on this button will allow you to approximate your measurement with the existing terrain (just in case, let me remind you that you need to shoot in the characteristic places of the terrain break (elevation differences, peaks, hollows)

 

(In addition, the application allows you to build a horizontal contours lines on the site. Using them, you can find the lowest point, analyze the water drop paths from the site.)

https://youtu.be/OCaNkEY8QLE The process of survey to measure the volume in the application android . I make real measurements and processing of the shooting. Without gluing and mounting. In order to save time, the movement from point to point was accelerated by 5 times.

Handy feature:

• editing coordinates ( recalculating P, Lat,Lon, H ⇆ P,X,Y,H)
• adding Contour Lines;
• adding Direction Arrow with Slope Labels(Two-point);
• removing duplicate points;
• clipping points that go beyond the base surface;
• calculating the area;
• exporting points to excel (csv);
• export of survey to SVG kml,  (https://SVGtoPNG.com +.kml > viewing in  google Earth
• cylindrical coordinates (azimuth(θ), distance(r) to the previous point
• exporting the surface to autocad (you just need to drag the script generated by the application from the Explorer to the autocad workspace and automatically draw the surface from 3D faces) https://youtu.be/gxceDyb0Bjo;
• adding Contour Lines;
• positioning the receiver (phone screen) by the Sun for easy orientation on the terrain [1]; 
• Inspect surfaces: Compare the height of the new measured point with the DTM design surface. 
  ▽ +2.9 - dynamic display of the difference between the DTM design elevation and  the phone (app) location

Double tap SHIFTS CENTER OF ZOOM - double tap shifts the center of the zoom.

https://youtube.com/shorts/1gBHrvs0R6Y - Manage, analyze, and edit survey data using swap edges.

https://youtu.be/HOjVHIjlL5k  - Earthwork. Volume Measurement

https://youtu.be/rtU9BtJ9TGo - Import local point data

https://youtu.be/rtU9BtJ9TGo - Import Survey Points

 

location may use sources like Wi-Fi, mobile networks, and sensors - this reduces the accuracy of measurements - for this reason: settings > location > Google Location Accuracy> Off
While making a survey hold the phone in a vertical position because the phase center of the antenna is located at the top of the device

The latest stage of accuracy enhancement uses the L5 band and is now fully deployed. GPS receivers released in 2019 that use the L5 band can have much higher accuracy, pinpointing to within 30 centimeters or 11.8 inches.
[1] - even when GPS is disabled, the approximate location(1°) and time (~15min) are sufficient to rotate the upper, middle point of the screen, which points to the north(if the direction of the yellow asterik coincides with the Sun )

[2] -  exporting the shooting to SVG формат. Nest by the service svgtopng.com automatically convert to transparent PNG, which shines through and does not cover the terrain when viewed in Google Earth.
The second file (KML) is used to specify the location of the survey in Google Earth. (you can eat it in notepad.

[3] - AutoCAD allows you to convert surfaces and objects with thickness to 3D bodies. There are several types of objects Autocad that you can use the command CONVTOSOLID to convert to 3D extruded bodies. These objects include closed pLINEs and thick circles, as well as networks and surfaces.
Several adjacent objects cannot be converted into a SOLID body. But you can get the same result if you combine these objects first. For example, you are splitting a 3D solid box into regions. First, using CONVTOSURF you should transform every region into the surface. Then, using the MERGE command, a complex object - surface - is formed. Finally, using the command CONVTOSOLID surface is converted to a body. In detail https://youtu.be/gxceDyb0Bjo?si=ZDXtho65i86yC8tK