First, let us keep the names apart: MapXact and marXact are two separate companies with no ties between them. MapXact is part of VolkerWessels Telecom and maps the subsurface to prevent excavation damage. We supply the GNSS equipment you use to record positions to the centimetre. The similarity between the two names is a coincidence.
MapXact developed a 3D ground-penetrating radar together with Gasunie that makes cables and pipes visible in near real time, supported by its own AI software. In sand and sandy loam the radar reaches a depth of around 3 metres; in clay and loam that range drops. They also supply digital risk maps, mobile mapping and 3D scanning, and work packages in line with CROW 500, the Dutch guideline for excavation work around cables and pipes. By their own account in September 2023, they had investigated almost 100,000 locations at that point, for network operators, local authorities, rail and contractors.
How the MapXact ground-penetrating radar combination works
A radar image is worth as much as the location you can pin it to. That is where the marXact side comes in: the Receptor GNSS UNI-GR2 supplies centimetre-accurate RTK positions with the radar data over Bluetooth. Every cable or pipe detected gets a position you would be willing to put a spade next to.
Radar and GNSS complement each other exactly. The radar sees what is down there, including what was never surveyed or is registered wrongly. The GNSS receiver records where that is, in the coordinate system the rest of the project works in.
A concrete example
A contractor is preparing a directional drilling under a junction. The KLIC notification, the Dutch statutory request for registered cable and pipe locations, shows the registered layout, but the ground-penetrating radar finds a stray cable a metre away from the drawing. With the RTK position attached, the actual layout goes straight into the project data and the drilling plan is adjusted before anything goes wrong.
If you work in public ground, have a look at our KLIC viewer for excavation sites as well: registered layout and your own measurements side by side on one map.
Para empezar
To position field work you need a UNI-GR2 with RTK corrections. Receiver, app, cloud environment and corrections come together in one package: survey it yourself with the UNI-Collect Survey Package.
Questions about combining ground-penetrating radar with centimetre-accurate surveying? Get in touch.