The Illinois Department of Nuclear Safety is always searching for ways to accomplish the agency's mission more efficiently and effectively.
Most ground surveys done today are still labor intensive.
First, a civil survey crew must locate property lines and lay out a square grid system. Locations of buildings, large trees and other important features must be manually recorded. Given the requirement to conduct large-scale surveys with limited staff, the department searched for a better method. Commercially available units were not a cost-effective option. The survey team starts with existing digital maps of the parcel boundaries, and digital maps of the buildings taken with aerial photos.