CASE STUDY
ACCURACY MATTERS The integration of L&T’s map-based mobile app LMNoP with Trimble Catalyst GNSS led to enhancement in positional accuracy and data quality, apart from saving data acquisition time.
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Trimble Catalyst
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ith the ubiquitous use of smartphones, project sites leverage the power of mobile apps to reduce costs and improve efficiency. LMNoP, which stands for Locate, Measure and Navigate on Phone, a map-based mobile application by Larsen & Toubro, acts as a base platform upon which a series of construction solutions are built and integrated. The mobile application was developed to run on every smart gadget, both on Android and iOS platforms, and is widely used across business verticals in different use cases in correspondence with business requirement. The LMNoP solution, integrated with Trimble Catalyst, was branded as LMNoP+. Trimble Catalyst is a revolutionary GNSS concept, bringing Trimble quality and precise positioning to the location-enabled workforce. Using the service, any location-enabled Android field app can utilize the power of Trimble positioning technology and benefit from the productivity improvements that come from working with precise location.
www.geospatialworld.net | May-June 2020
The primary objective of the LMNoP application is to provide location information of a project site’s assets, supporting site engineers in field operations. The app also enables site engineers to view the project’s design drawings, toposheets, aerial photographs and other GIS layers superimposed on the project base map. The solution has been constantly growing with customized versions and builds generated, based on specific needs of projects. Utility alignment tracking, material or resource planning and re-route analysis are some of the growing use cases of LMNoP solution. The data captured using the app across the project site serves as the base, which is further used as input data for engineering design, quantity estimation, progress monitoring, obstruction and hurdles management. The technical architecture of the LMNoP app includes both mobile and web application — while mobile application is used for field related activities, web application is used for monitoring and other decision-making process. Seamless connection between the web and mobile application ensures integration of both office and site activities.
The big challenge Since mobile GPS receivers catch radio waves from connected satellites and use triangulation methods to derive where a person/object is, these receivers are not premium builds like dedicated GNSS receivers and sometimes do not provide accurate data. The initial version of LMNoP used relatively less accurate inbuilt mobile device GPS to derive location information, which had a deviation in positional accuracy of up to 30 metres. To enhance positional accuracy, data quality and save data acquisition time, LMNoP was integrated with Trimble Catalyst. The objective behind the integration was clear: delivering professional grade positioning. Trimble Catalyst allows GNSS signals and satellite corrections
