We normally have dozens of projects being processed at any point in time and we complete many projects during the course of a year. Below you will find some example projects to help you understand the scope of Tuck Mappings services and the use of different mapping tools and technologies to meet clients’ needs.

Simultaneous LiDAR and Imagery Acquisition and Processing; Sevier County, TN – 2017

On November 23, 2016, a wildfire began near Gatlinburg, TN. Within five days, the fire had spread to over 18,000 acres, ravaging homes, schools, businesses, hospitals, and government infrastructure. An estimated 2,460 structures were damaged or destroyed and the estimated cost of damages in Sevier County is $842,000,000.

To assist in the relief efforts, Tuck Mapping donated 3 inch aerial orthophotography of the entire affected area to the County. The data will be used for: planimetric mapping of structures, identification of structure status, emergency response plans, emergency warning system plans, update of structure rebuilds for GIS, projection of revenues from property taxes, building permit updates, routing for building supplies, and future zoning of development areas.

Highway Mapping for the Texas Department of Transportation – 2017

Tuck Mapping is currently sub-contracting on four separate contracts throughout Texas under a Prime Contractor. Tuck Mapping provides the acquisition of imagery using a digital camera, digital mapping, acquisition of LiDAR from both airplanes and helicopters, and the processing of the LiDAR to the bare earth and other features as necessary.  TMSI has completed approximately 25 projects in the past six years for the highway department. Their most recent project included LiDAR acquisition and processing of 11 mi2 in Houston, TX. The mission was flown at 1,000ft with Tuck Mappings Bell 206 JetRanger and RIEGL LMS-Q560 laser scanner. Tuck Mapping calibrated and classified the data for the Prime Contractor, who will use the LiDAR data for drainage studies, urban planning, lane widening, and asset management. The LiDAR data was accurate to 0.1ft.

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Prime Contract – Ongoing since 2016

Tuck Mapping is currently the Prime Contractor for the Corps of Engineers, Tulsa District’s Indefinite Delivery Architect-Engineer Contract for Surveying and Mapping and Geospatial Services contract. Their first task order was the Canton Toe Drain and Blaine Park Topographic Survey in Blaine County, Oklahoma. The purpose of this Task Order was to obtain mapping of field surveyed features, specifically defining existing topographic shots and planimetric features, contained within the project limits. Tuck Mapping provided a total field to finish information package, including topographic and planimetric mapping products in a MicroStation V8i format, ASCII files used for producing contours, and SDSFIE compliant geodatabases with FGDC compliant metadata.

Tuck Mappings second Task Order was to perform an underwater remotely operated vehicle (ROV) inspection of 8 dams throughout Oklahoma and southern Kansas. All dams were inspected upstream and downstream, using a Blueview 2D forward scanning sonar, for signs of erosion, cavitation, deterioration, exposed rebar, missing bars, accumulation of debris, and/or overall condition of the structures. Depths of erosion and undercutting as well as the amount of debris was quantified. A comprehensive report was provided for each dam which included procedures, equipment, tabulated data, photos, and an analysis of each feature. Features included: upstream spillway, upstream powerhouse intake, powerhouse tailrace, trash racks, navigation lock and guide walls, auxiliary spillways, stilling basins, baffles, end sills, and outlet channels.

Imagery and LiDAR Acquisition for the Department of Energy – 2016

Tuck Mapping was contracted to acquire high accuracy LiDAR and imagery for Department of Energy (DOE) facility. For this project, Tuck Mapping became an approved contractor with the DOE and is in compliance with aircraft and pilot restrictions. Tuck Mapping worked with the DOE to plan ground control locations as there were restrictions due to the sensitive nature of the area. To ensure the best product, Tuck Mapping used their helicopter to acquire LiDAR, and airplane to acquire color imagery. (This project took place before the RIEGL LMS-Q680i laser scanner and Vexcel UltraCam Falcon Prime were available in their twin-engine aircraft).

Tuck Mapping conducted a kickoff meeting with all necessary departments and addressed all concerns raised by the staff.  Due to the nature of work, the sensitivity of the images had to be addressed.  Additionally, flight restrictions over the facility were discussed along with the clearances that were required for any flight over the area. They were able to decide how imagery would be processed and who would be allowed to see the imagery.  Once the imagery was collected, the Project Manager took the imagery to the client and let them review the imagery to inspect the detail and determine the classification of the imagery.

The airplane and helicopter flights had to be coordinated so the LiDAR and the imagery were collected with airborne GPS, but only one aircraft could be over the facility at any time.  The collection was managed so that as the helicopter finished LiDAR acquisition and headed to the airport, the airplane was coming on line at the facility.  The facility has an air traffic controller that had to be informed of all actions and the aircraft had to report their position on a regular basis.  There were no issues with the collection.  The specifications called for 1 foot and 2 foot contours, but with Tuck Mappings high accuracy LiDAR system they were able to provide less than 0.1 foot vertical accuracy.  The planimetrics were mapped at 1” = 50’ scale.

As a part of the mapping, Tuck Mapping also mapped the power lines leading to and from the facility.  A power company was planning new lines to supply a substation that was being constructed at the site.

LiDAR and Imagery Acquisition and Processing; Guantanamo Naval Base – 2016, 2012

Tuck Mapping has mapped the Guantanamo Naval Base with LiDAR, Color digital orthos and Color IR orthos for the second time in four years. An initial meeting at the Naval Base was required to meet with the Base Commander and his staff to determine how the project could be completed with the least amount of interference to Base Operations. High security measures were put in place due to the events surrounding the detention center at the base. Tuck Mapping also worked with the Base Commander to determine ground control layout and review the site to ensure mapping would provide adequate coverage for the final products.

Tuck Mapping was responsible for obtaining all security clearances and had to obtain security clearances for all crew member involved in the mission. The flight crew ferried the helicopter down the Caribbean chain of islands while the ground support crew chartered a military plane to the base. Due to the sensitivity of the mission and the fact that Tuck Mapping was mapping adjacent to the Cuban border, they requested that a ranking officer with clearance be assigned to the helicopter during all missions. Tuck Mapping had reviewed the treaties with Cuba concerning the airspace around the base and knew of all the restrictions that were placed on their flight.

The data was acquired with Tuck Mappings helicopter EagleEye Mapping System allowing them to map along the security fence and extend approximately 100 feet over the fenced area. Since the contract called for the ground survey of all the utility features within the Naval Base, Tuck Mapping took the time to fly additional missions at a very low altitude. This enabled them to obtain one inch pixel imagery to visualize the fire hydrants, water valves, and other features that were to be collected by the surveyors.  This reduced the amount of time the surveyors would have had to spend surveying the site. The data was initially processed at the base to ensure full data coverage. All flights were completed with no interference with the security of the border and no issues were raised due to their missions. Final products include orthophotography, topographic mapping, planimetrics, and digital terrain models.

Atchafalaya Basin Levee Profile Survey; Baton Rouge, LA – 2016

Tuck Mapping provided helicopter services and LiDAR processing services for the acquisition and processing of 450 miles of levees on the Atchafalaya River near Baton Rouge, LA. The purpose of the survey was to determine the line of protection along both sides of the river. The Prime Contractor provided the control survey for this project. While Tuck Mapping owns three LiDAR systems, this project required the use of RIEGLs VUX-1 LiDAR system. Therefore, Tuck Mapping installed a VUX-1 LiDAR system from RIEGL in their Bell JetRanger B3 helicopter. This project was flown differently than a standard aerial mapping project by visually following the levee with a single pass. Typically, flight lines are provided to the pilot who uses those to fly at the required altitude along the required path.

For this project, the pilot flew line-of-site along the levees at 300 feet above ground level. This project required high density LiDAR coverage so Tuck Mapping flew at a low altitude at approximately 50mph while the scanner output was approximately 500,000 points per second. This provided 25 points/ m2.

Tuck Mapping classified the LAS files into bare earth, features, buildings, and vegetation. The Line-of-Protection was then determined using the LiDAR bare earth and LiDAR data of the concrete wall constructed within the levee.  The concrete gates along the wall are all open and are mapped that way, but the Line-of-Protection is showing the gates closed as they would be during a flood event.

Right-of-Way Vegetative Threat Analysis; Tennessee and Surrounding States – 2015 & 2016

Tuck Mapping is currently holds a contract to analyze all power lines within the Tennessee region for vegetative threat. By the end of last year, the Tuck Mapping team analyzed over 5,000 miles of right-of-way (ROW) corridors in 8 states.

GIS and engineering data for the transmission lines within the ROW were provided by the client. These datasets had to be analyzed and remediated as they were from several non-congruent sources. This process ended up being a deliverable so the client had one main source of transmission data information.

Aerial imagery acquisition for 3,700 miles in phase one was completed in less than two months. Flight plans for the next day’s mission were plotted each night, as the schedule was unpredictable due to the number of miles, complexity of the transmission lines, and weather delays. Data was processed each night to ensure full data coverage was acquired before moving into the next region. Updates in the form of trajectory files and GIS maps were provided weekly to the client to keep them apprised of our progress.

Following imagery acquisition, a point cloud was generated from the imagery and a 3-D canopy surface model was created. This 3-D model was then compared to the existing engineering data and several vegetation threat types were identified (i.e. fall-in and grow-in threat). Final deliverables were provided via ArcGIS Online and in ESRI’s Collector format allowing field personnel to have digital access to files in the field.

Vulcan Materials – Ongoing

Tuck Mapping has continuously mapped over 100 stockpiles for Vulcan Materials for the past 15 years. We utilize both our LiDAR and imagery acquisition systems for these projects. There are 23 stockpiles in NC, 13 in SC, 30 in VA, 25 in GA, 3 in DE, 2 in PA, and 10 in MD. This project involves planimetrics, DTMs, orthophotography, and topographic mapping. TMSI also generates a “Blast Map” for each stockpile. These maps encompass 1 mi2 around each stockpile and all planimetric features, including homes, roads, fire hydrants, etc.