Maptek Managing Director Peter Johnson chairs an Innovations and Opportunities session today, the first day of the Third International Future Mining Conference in Sydney, Australia. He said the conference would provide a terrific platform to discuss ways the industry can innovate to overcome challenges and develop in line with industry needs.

“The mining industry is at the vanguard of technology in so many areas and it is crucial to look outside our own backyard to consider how we can improve. We encourage innovation at Maptek – innovation is the key to unlocking competitive advantage. There’s a lot to learn from other disciplines that can inspire innovation in our own field.”

The Innovations and Opportunities session includes discussion around the use of unmanned aerial vehicles in mining.

“This is of great interest to Maptek,” he said. “Our airborne mapping software processes photogrammetric data, producing accurate results for mapping stockpiles, highwalls, pit surfaces and topography. Integration with laser scan survey, design conformance and mine planning software ensures a cost effective and time saving solution for rapidly mapping and analysing change in mining, geospatial and infrastructure applications.

“Combining aerial mapping with 3D laser scanning will help further our ultimate goal of enabling a continuous mine model – the real-time representation of a mine site – which will be of enormous value to operations.”