In the past I’ve written about a cool tool called AugView that lets you augment what you see in front of you with a spatial representation of physical assets, such as conduits, cables, etc that are actually hidden underground.
At the moment there are two limitations that restrict the usefulness of tools like AugView. The first is finding geo-positioning hardware (eg GPS units) that are accurate enough. That hurdle will be overcome soon enough.
The bigger challenge will be the accuracy of the data. Many cable and duct records go back decades and lead-in cables in particular have not always been recorded with great spatial accuracy. This could prove to be an almost insurmountable challenge for some operators being able to equip their field workers with VR tools.
I wonder whether the seismic processing technology used in mining exploration could be adapted to finding underground infrastructure. The benefits don’t seem to outweigh what would undoubtedly be an expensive audit process though do they?
Can you envisage a scenario where they might? Can you think of other tech that might do it more cost effectively? Ground penetrating radar? Other?