GEOMATICS
Big data and digital twins are old news for surveyors Geospatial has always been considered as big data and surveyors have been making forms of digital twins since computers have existed (in fact, a map is a digital representation of reality). But the advent of technology has dramatically changed the surveying profession’s ability to create digital twins and collect data. By Kirsten Kelly
M
y father was a sur veyor, and it took an enormous amount of expertise to measure the position of an object on the earth and present it on a plan in relation to other objects. Conversely, it was inordinately difficult to make a mark on the sur face of the earth that represented a position on a plan,” says Chris Kirchhoff, principal at 5DGeo.
Big data
Credit: Joshua Fuller
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IMIESA September 2021
“Nowadays, it is easy to collect the geospatial position of an object – it requires ver y little skill. A drone (if the web is to be believed) can create a 2 GB, 1 cm resolution file called a map. Collecting big data is simple; however, extracting the required, appropriate information and organising it into manageable pieces that enables the end-users to make informed decisions requires enormous skill from sur veyors. “Sur veyors constantly shift between creating an over view of data to a more detailed, granular view of the same data set. The ability to understand geospatial data – allowing for one to analyse and interpret data and make it meaningful – is a valuable skill,” he adds.
