Monitoring in urban areas

The complete hardware and software package for monitoring in an urban environment

Urban Monitoring Use Case

Cities have grown and evolved for thousands of years, but today, more than ever, the velocity of urban development requires greater consideration for safety. Deformation monitoring provides information about movements and allows informed decisions based on facts, which bring not only protection to people and structures, but can also contribute to overall cost reductions during the construction lifecycle process.

The combination of data coming from geodetic monitoring sensors (total stations, GNSS or levels) with geotechnical and environmental sensors (tilt sensors, strain gauges, weather stations, etc.) and interferometric radar, delivers the complete picture about the movements happening in real time.

When is monitoring beneficial in urban areas?

To assess the natural movements: the earth’s surface is constantly moving and flexing, especially in areas near water or without solid substratum. Therefore, it’s essential to distinguish the natural movements from the movements caused by construction or any other impact causing ground instability.
To aid during construction process: verticality and alignment monitoring is an absolute must during high-rise building construction process to validate designs in addition to measurement of excavation areas to determine the amount of ground and structural movement.
To protect the surrounding area: disturbance of ground during the construction process may cause movements to surrounding buildings or structures. Whether it’s a new building or construction of transportation system, like metro lines or tunnels, the surrounding area needs to be monitored to understand movements, thus information regarding deformation of 3rd party assets can be understood and limited.
Structural health monitoring: every building and /or structure changes with time and neglecting different impacts on it, can have serious consequences. Examples of threatening sources of movements include: Natural hazards Seismic activity Aging of the structure Operation use change Maintenance of the structure

This video presents typical generic examples of monitoring installations in an urban area, yet every monitoring project requires its own specifically assessed and designed monitoring system thus specialists should be consulted before any installation. Leica Geosystems automated monitoring solutions have been used worldwide for more than 30 years. Leica Geosystems are a specialist manufacturer and supplier of monitoring solutions with international multidisciplinary experience, with a holistic view to delivering innovative technology and support for any monitoring application.

Case Studies