LIDAR Surveys for Road Design in Thailand

摘要

Concerned with environmental and drainage problems associated with road infrastructure that can greatly affect the populations located in its vicinity, the Department of Highways of Thailand (DOH) is looking for ways to minimize the impact of new road construction and maintenance. In particular, roads and highways often need to be built in high-risk and sensitive areas such as hilly, unstable terrain. LiDAR technology is of great interest to DOH as its use can make them save enormous amounts of time and money by providing highly precise elevation data in all kinds of environments including harsh and rugged areas. Generally, survey and design for a common highway requires about 7-8 months for completion while major projects require at least 12 months. Among the many technological improvements introduced over the past years, GIS has been adopted to a certain extent to enhance survey and design capability development. The integration of LiDAR-produced digital elevation models into their existing GIS databases will greatly improve DOH's capacity and efficiency in highway design and associated steps. LaserMap GPR Consultants of Canada is undertaking, together with DOH, Royal Thai Survey Department and Chulalongkorn University, a pilot study located near the New Bangkok International Airport that aims to demonstrate the usefulness and practicality of using this kind of surveys for road construction and maintenance projects in Thailand.