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mine design Exploring the Dimensions of Digital Solutions in Mine Mapping Apart from advantages in speed of data collection and analysis provided by digital technology, perhaps its greatest benefit is this: even as mine projects become more complex, the tools needed to map them are getting easier to use BY RUSS CARTER, WESTERN FIELD EDITOR For most people, ���mining��� would probably not be a first choice to link with ���digital��� in a word-association quiz. Even for a mine engineer or survey technician working on an active bench in a big open-pit mine, surrounded by noise, dust, vibration and possibly enduring extreme heat or cold, the digital domain can seem very far away. But it���s clear that the technology of surface mine design, planning and mapping is fast becoming a largely digital enterprise, driven by electronic and software innovations that are permanently changing what was once an analog, downin-the-dirt industry into one that routinely adopts high-tech digital tools from other advanced sectors such as military, communications and process automation, to name just a few. As mine operators come under increasingly severe economic, regulatory and social pressures, their need to quickly gather, analyze and present project-critical geological and geographical data has intensified. Consequently, the industry���s mapping and design toolbox has expanded over the years to include digital aerial imagery, LiDAR, digital elevation models, planimetric and topographic mapping, orthophotography, enterprise GIS and remote sensing. At the bottom of that toolbox lies one of the pioneering technologies that started the digital transition: Global Positioning System-based (GPS) navigation. GPS is one of many disruptive technologies that, upon arrival, typically alter many of the fundamental ways in which individuals and businesses deal with everyday situations. GPS, like many of its disruptive relatives, has been absorbed into the fabric of our lives, becoming a common personal tool for navigation and location-based social networking as well as an essential service that lies beneath the surface of countless industrial activities, including many crucial applications in mining. And, in the process, it���s become part of a larger family called GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System), which is now the generic name for satellite navigation systems that provide autonomous geospatial positioning with global coverage. GNSS includes the United States��� GPS, Advances in data collection and analysis can make mine plans ���living documents,��� with changes and progress updated in real time and available to all concerned. 34 www.coalage.com Russia���s GLONASS, and Europe���s Galileo systems. There will be an estimated 90 GNSS satellites in orbit by 2015, and more than 120 satellites by 2020. There���s a lot going on beneath the broad, quiet surface of GNSS, as more than 3,500 attendees at the sixth Trimble Dimensions conference learned during the annual three-day event, held in early November 2012 in Las Vegas. Dimensions is designed to showcase the latest developments in Trimble Navigation Ltd.���s positioning technology for the construction, mining, fleet operations, utility and other industrial sectors. Although the conference is tightly focused on GNSS applications, the scope of the Sunnyvale, California-based company���s offerings extends to the use of optics, lasers, unmanned aerial systems (UAS) and other technologies in mining activities that span everything from exploration surveying to haul truck dispatch. A number of Trimble���s mining solutions have been developed in collaborative efforts involving its various subsidiaries, and business partners through a technology alliance with Caterpillar���and, of course, Trimble isn���t the only player in the game; Leica Geosystems Mining, Maptek I-Site and other well-known technology providers offer various competing or complementary solutions in a market sector that is evolving at quantum speed. At this year���s conference keynote presentation, Trimble CEO and President Steven W. Berglund described how the scope of GNSS applications is changing, and used examples of recent business developments at Trimble to illustrate his point. Technical advances have enabled GNSS product development to shift from a task-oriented to a process-oriented focus, and with the traditional focus on simple data collection from geospatial sources shifting to increasingly sophisticated dataanalysis capabilities, Berglund said Trimble is moving ahead in this area to take advanFebruary 2013