Monitoring of vegetation around power lines
Environmental management Urban planning Industries Surveying

Monitoring of vegetation around power lines

The vegetation growing near power lines may cause many accidents and damages.

Good management of vegetation around power lines is crucial for security of people and properties, as well as to ensure the supply of electricity.

Field-Map provides a complete solution for vegetation monitoring around power lines: detailed terrain profile measurement, exact mapping of vegetation, previsions and modeling of growth, maps printing for forest services contractors, etc.

Monitoring of vegetation around power lines step by step:

1) We need to have a detailed model of the terrain under power lines. Field-Map equipment allows easy, fast and accurate measurements to determine the terrain profile. After that we can outline curves between the electrical pylons to calculate the safety distance between the ground and the electric cable.

2) Around power lines is assessed a buffer zone in which the monitoring of vegetation will be done. Regular buffer for its simplicity or rugby balls to reduce the surface to a minimum can be chosen.

3) Mapping of vegetation is done by lightweight equipment (field-computer, laser rangefinder, GPS). Positioning of solitary trees (points), hedges (lines) or forest stands (polygons) is accurate due to georeferencing options (GPS, aerial images, laser rangefinder). All relevant data as location, height, diameter, species, stand characteristics, difference in altitude etc. are collected. Field work must be carried out by forester: knowledge of forest species, biology, treatment, harvesting methods etc. are necessary.

 4) Once the field data collection is finished, we can simply analyze the data and send them to the forestry services contractor: they will hold accurate surface for clearings, volume of trees to cut, they will know which machine they will need to use, WHERE to go but also WHEN. The data collected will be used to crate growth patterns of vegetation over the next year. This way we can save time and money – make treatments right in time being sure that all trees will maintain a safe distance.

 

Monitoring of vegetation around power lines brings the possibility to:   

  • Reduce injuries and damages caused by vegetation in contact with power lines
  • Accurate prediction of vegetation growth and the need for intervention
  • Reduction of monitoring expenses – field data collection with Field-Map is very fast and the growth patterns of vegetation can extend the periods of monitoring
  • Possibility of predicting the need for service providers
  • Environmentally friendly methode (interventions are limited to the minimum)
  •