hat do you get if you combine LineView and MapView? You unlock a powerful new feature called SplitView, coming soon as a free update to your LMX200™ systems when using an external GPS. It will change the way you locate utilities and other targets with GPR. Since the LMX200™ GPR system for utility locating was introduced, the real-time view during data collection was LineView – the cross-section view of the GPR data (Figure 1).
New data scrolls onto the screen from the right side, scrolls across the screen and scrolls off the screen on the left side. Hyperbolas from subsurface objects such as utilities scroll across the screen as you pass over them.
If you were using an external GPS, after you finished collecting the GPR data, you could open MapView to get a bird’s-eye view of all the data you had collected in the current project, including the GPS path of Line Scans, grid lines of Grid Scans, plus any added flags and field interpretations (Figure 2).
The LMX200™ system now has SplitView, that displays both LineView and MapView simultaneously during data collection. (Figures 3 and 4).
The MapView side of the screen shows all the GPR data that has been collected in the current project; more importantly, it also shows where the LMX200™ is currently located in the survey area (Figure 4, blue dot).
The implications of SplitView are extremely powerful for utility locators. Seeing the subsurface in LineView and a map of the GPR survey area in MapView, greatly assists with data interpretation. Add field interpretations by simply touching the top of hyperbolas on the LineView side of the screen.
That same interpretation will instantly appear on the MapView side of the screen. Now you can see the spatial relationship between targets and can quickly determine if a series of hyperbolas are linear in orientation, and therefore more likely to be a utility. For example, see the series of red field interpretations in Figure 4.
Experienced utility locating GPR operators know that hyperbolas from utilities do not always appear as strong responses. A localized patch of soil with high electrical conductivity over the utility can reduce the strength of the hyperbola and make it easy to miss. However, with SplitView, if we see that a series of hyperbolas all line up linearly except for a few, the LMX200™ allows you to scroll back through the cross-section data to the location of where the hyperbola should be and let you take a second look (Figure 5) and improve your interpretation.
Very weak hyperbolic response from the utility. It would be missed unless looking for it to make the utility interpretations linear.
Another feature of MapView, both in regular MapView and the MapView in the SplitView screen, is the display of depth slices from processed grids (Figure 3). This display combines the data from Grid Scans and Line Scans to give you the big picture of your GPR data. This allows you to get the most from your GPR data, make solid interpretations and ultimately, do the most complete utility locating job possible.
SplitView and other new features will be shipping soon with new LMX® systems. And since we strongly believe in providing continuous improvements to our customers, this upgrade will also be available free of charge to all current LMX200™ owners. Contact Sensors & Software for more details.
