Set amongst a rugged yet vibrant rural landscape in the outback town of Longreach on the Tropic of Capricorn is Australia’s premier outback heritage institution: The Australian Stockman’s Hall of Fame (ASHoF). The construction was established as a grand tribute to Australia’s unsung heroes – explorers, stock workers, pastoralists and Aborigines of remote Australia.

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With the passing of three decades since Queen Elizabeth II opened the outback museum in 1988, it was due time for comprehensive updating of the facilities and exhibition spaces. That is where we swooped in with our newly acquired drone technology to undertake a precise detail survey over the entire site, including 3D scanning of the interior of the museum, galleries and arena.

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Bennett and Bennett's latest drone system is the Riegl MiniVUX LiDAR Remotely Piloted Aircraft System (RPAS). The precision measuring and satellite technology onboard the unit enables rich quality data with maximum penetration through vegetation and the ability to capture up to 50ha in a single 20-minute flight, to an accuracy of 50mm.

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As a previous survey already existed, the initial scope of work involved a smaller area of the site. However, due to the obvious capabilities and efficiency of the MiniVUX drone to capture all site surfaces, a full detail survey was soon commissioned. This ensured complete confidence in knowing of any changes or modifications to the area since the last survey prior to planning new works and upgrades.

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See video below which captures the scope of the surveyed site with the RIEGL miniVUX system.

Figure 1: Cross section of Terrestrial Laser Scan (TLS) data vs Riegl Unmanned Laser Scan (ULS)  data