The application of digital video plotter (DVP) systems to the location and orientation of open pit wall slope features

CIM Bulletin, Vol. 96, No. 1071, 2003

S. Klingmann and G. Blackwell

Terrestrial photogrammetry has been used for many years to build three-dimensional pictures for analytical purposes. Photographs can include images from open pit mine walls, ground topography, mine buildings infrastructure or accident scenes. Analysis and co-ordinate estimation in early photogrammetric systems demanded the use of specialized and costly optical-mechanical stereocomparators. Few of these instruments could be interfaced with computers to provide databases, and all required trained personnel with good perspective vision to collect data. Digital photogrammetric software has replaced these older systems, and the digital video plotter (DVP) is a simple computerized system utilizing readily available PCs to quickly produce a stereoscopic model of any scene where an area of overlap exists in photographs taken from two different locations. Specialized cameras providing reference marks or grids on the photographs are still necessary for detailed analysis in three dimensions. This paper describes the application of DVP to the three-dimensional analysis of strike, dip and location of dominant fracture planes visible on an open pit wall slope, and the intersection of planar features which might reduce wall stability. Where reference survey points cannot be provided because access by personnel to the photographic scene is impossible for safety reasons, normal case terrestrial photogrammetry can provide the necessary control points for more complex aerial photogrammetry geometries. DVP recreates the geometry existing at the moment photographs are taken, providing the user with the ability to safely recreate, compare and analyze the structures determining the stability of open pit wall slopes.

Keywords: Digital video plotter (DVP), Digital photogrammetry, Three-dimensional analysis, Normal case geometry, Complex case geometry.