This article was written regarding work conducted under legacy company names: Continental Mapping, GISinc, or TSG Solutions. These three companies merged in January 2021 to form a new geospatial leader Axim Geospatial.
There are 1,073 miles of interstate in Tennessee, and of those, the ones that run through Chattanooga are some of the busiest in the state. It’s a commute that has drawn the ire of many in the community.
Tennessee DOT decided to tackle this busy corridor by launching a comprehensive study of Interstate 24 (the main corridor cutting across Chattanooga). The study had two major points of emphasis, one of them being the famed Moccasin Bend where I24 parallels a distinct bend in the Tennessee River. The geography, traffic density and confined space in this area are a perfect example of the beneficial application of high accuracy 3D data derived from mobile lidar.
To meet the complex physical challenges and requirements of this project, Axim Geospatial completed a sophisticated data collection effort comprised of coordinated aerial imagery and lidar, mobile lidar and field survey. Each technology was utilized to leverage its respective strengths; aerial lidar for accuracy and broad coverage, aerial imagery to derive orthophotos, mobile lidar for 3D high accuracy along the roadways, and land survey to control all the data and collect supplemental data in obscured areas. The data sets were fused together leveraging the strengths of each technology to derive a comprehensive 3D data set.
Final deliverables for the project included 1”=50’ planimetric mapping, 1’ contours, and a DTM all with 0.1-foot vertical accuracy. The project resulted in current 3D digital mapping data suitable for use with road design software in project adjusted coordinates, per Tennessee DOT design specifications.