Mobile mapping systems in civil engineering projects (case studies)

There has been increased interest in mobile mapping system (MMS) usage, especially in the surveying and implementation of projects, for engineering and planning applications. Moreover, it is needed to enable state-of-the-art technologies implementation and usage in both modern and old (i.e., already existing) projects, especially when they are executed at sites with difficult nature and those located in crowded cities. The design of engineering projects consists of three phases: conceptual, preliminary, and detailed design phases. Surveying and site design is one of the most important parts in all these phases, in both the planning and implementation of infrastructure engineering and its layout. Examples are numerous and sometimes they are the fine line in the design and decision of the implementation of some projects, such as in roads rehabilitation, drainage networks, and railway and metro installation. The critical issue in such projects is the required accuracy, which should be achieved and guaranteed. Then, more applications and new practical and easily applied methodologies are needed. To achieve the accuracy required, we propose an effective methodology using an MMS and some software to check and guarantee that the target is met. We present an application of the methodology and a discussion of the problems faced while employing the MMS methodology. Two important projects are highlighted as case studies of our methodology application in employing an MMS in the surveying design phase of important scale infrastructures in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). The first is the surveying for the design of 180 km of drainage system in Jeddah and the second is the surveying of 1500 km of an existing railway network. The two surveying projects are the first applications using an MMS in the KSA where the accuracy was a necessity for the purpose of state-of-the-art management and monitoring of new and old installed systems. In this work, we discuss the new technology application and the problems faced. In addition, we address the different applications covered by an MMS.