Aligning Real-Time Networks (RTNs) with the National Spatial Reference System (NSRS) is crucial to ensure accuracy, consistency, interoperability, and long-term data integrity for geospatial applications. However, the effectiveness of different alignment methods as well as the need for monitoring approaches to maintain alignment consistency with the NSRS have not yet...
Unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), also known as drones, are an increasingly popular method of collecting surveying and mapping data. Two common drone-based mapping techniques are lidar and structure from motion (SfM) photogrammetry, and a frequently-heard (yet nearly impossible to answer) question is: “which is better?” The most common metric for...
Transportation agencies continuously strive to improve driving quality and highway safety, which are both highly correlated with the level of smoothness of the road. The International Roughness Index (IRI) is a widely adopted, standardized metric calculated from longitudinal profile data collected on the road. Inertial profilers are devices mounted to...
A curb ramp is an indispensable ramp system in the transportation network that provides a transition between a sidewalk and a roadway. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires that the design, construction, and maintenance of curb ramps meet the ADA standards. However, many existing curb ramps are noncompliant, as...
The objective of this lab is to gain experience collecting imagery with an unmanned aircraft system (UAS) and processing it in structure from motion (SfM) photogrammetry software to obtain georeferenced data products, including an orthomosaic in GeoTiff format and a point cloud in ASPRS’s LAS format.