On the Meissa platform, earthwork volume is calculated by converting the 2D CAD drawings a construction company already holds—such as original ground, stratum, and design elevations—into 3D, and comparing them with the 3D as-built elevation generated from drone imagery.
The 3D conversion of the design elevation and the analysis of drone images are handled automatically by the Meissa solution, so simply by uploading drone data whenever you like, you can easily check the cumulative work volume against the original ground and the remaining work volume against the design elevation.
In this post, to help you understand ‘volume calculation’ with Meissa, we will explain the process in detail, from creating the reference data to deriving the final results.
The first step is building the reference data (design elevation and original ground elevation).
When a construction company sends 2D CAD files—such as original ground, stratum, and design elevations—to Meissa, we convert that data into 3D and upload it to the platform. If you have a TIF file, you can upload it directly without any separate conversion. The uploaded 3D drawing data can be viewed visually on the platform, and the x, y, z coordinate values assigned within this 3D drawing data are linked within the platform.
The second step is creating as-built data through drone photography.
Photograph the construction site with a drone whenever you want, then upload that data to the platform, and the Meissa solution automatically analyzes it to generate an orthophoto with x, y, z coordinates and a 3D as-built elevation model.
During this process, you can also delete the height values of unnecessary objects such as heavy equipment or stockpiles present on the construction site. When you designate an area to exclude, the height data of those objects is flattened to the average surrounding surface height. This lets you generate surface data (DTM) for more accurate volume calculation.
The third step is the process of calculating volume by comparing the reference data with the as-built data.
Here the calculation applies a triangulation method, and it can compute the ‘completed work volume’ done so far and the ‘remaining work volume’ still to be done.
The volume data calculated this way can be viewed in two ways.
When you select a specific zone on the platform, you can easily check the cut/fill volume data calculated by comparing the as-built elevation and design elevation of that zone.
Time-series monitoring of earthwork volume changes is possible. You can check the remaining work volume broken down by material type (weathered rock, soft rock, hard rock).
