Any stockpile within reason (not very large ones) can now be quantified by pointing your iPhone at it and walking around using the Stockpile Reports Lite iPhone app. This app allows anyone to measure piled material themselves, right away, for a small fraction of the typical cost, getting measurement results before the time it would take a measurement crew to even show up.
“We’ve been serving the large enterprise construction materials industry around the world since 2012, with our inventory management platform,” says David Boardman, CEO of Stockpile Reports. “Now we’re making our patented measurement technology available to everyone.”
After downloading the app (search ‘Stockpiles Lite’ in the app store), users point the iPhone camera at the surface of the pile and walk around its perimeter. The app captures high resolution imagery that is then uploaded to the cloud and processed to generate a report. Independent tests have shown the measurements to be within 1% to 2% of LiDAR (laser measurement) surveys.
“We’ve rolled out the app out to the UK, Ireland, South Africa, New Zealand, and will be expanding it to a worldwide audience throughout the year,” said Tony Jacobson, VP of Product at Stockpile Reports. “The app was designed to work with free-standing stockpiles up to 3,000 m3.”
It could be very useful, for example for assessing abandoned dumps (that are not too large) for reprocessing.
