Pipeline Planning & Monitoring
Infoterra offers a range of services for both pipeline planning, prior to the construction phase and for routine monitoring once in operation.
Prospective pipeline routes can be planned from the combination of satellite data and elevation (terrain) information, either across entire countries or between storage plants and nearby coastal facilities. In areas of hostile terrain satellite imagery is often the only initial way to obtain information about the landscape and the elevation range of a region. Our customised GIS software allows us to analyse satellite imagery and derived land use maps combined with elevation information to propose minimum cost route corridors.
Once a potential route has been identified we are able to fly the route corridor using our state of the art laserscanner, an instrument capable of collecting individual height points on the ground at a rate of 33,000 per second, but with a vertical accuracy of better than 25cm. Data capture rates like these allow the corridor to be mapped in precise detail, which in turn allows the pipeline route to be planned precisely in order to minimise cut and fill volumes and to ensure that the local topographic gradient is used to the best effect.
Once built our pipeline services continue as we are able to assess the speed of the initial vegetation re-growth and then routinely monitor the pipe for signs of leakage or encroachment from either vegetation or man-made structures. Both buried and overland pipelines can be monitored.