Patent ID: 7899599

Claim:
A method of monitoring the location of a mining vehicle in a mine, the method comprising: driving at least one mining vehicle during one work cycle at least in a first work area and in a second work area of the mine, wherein the first work area is provided with at least one identifier whose location is accurately known, and the second work area is provided with no identifier; determining data on the location of the mining vehicle in the mine; transferring said location data to a mine control system; employing, in location data transfer, a data communication connection communicating with the mine control system; employing the obtained location data in the mine control system for monitoring the operation of the mining vehicle, determining the location of the mining vehicle substantially continuously in the first work area and the second work area on the basis of a dead reckoning, wherein the distance travelled is calculated and the travel direction is determined; determining, when operating in the second work area, the location of the mining vehicle only on the basis of the dead reckoning; identifying, when operating in the first work area, at least one identifier whose location is accurately known; determining the location data of the mining vehicle on the basis of the identification data; and updating the location data determined in the dead reckoning on the basis of the location data of the identifier only when driving in the first work area, wherein the size of the second work area is sufficient to cause a mining vehicle during at least one work cycle to have discontinuities in location updates obtained by identifiers with accurately known locations.