High-res Imagery & DSM for Utilities Vegetation Management
Vegetation can pose serious threats to power lines, always a major challenge for utility companies to manage. It involves taking stock of what’s growing in and around power assets in order to maintain safety of the area and to prevent blockages or outages due to encroachment or even fallen trees.
Anything that can grow close to a line could cause a short circuit, a power outage, or even potentially spark a fire. It’s why many utility companies are looking to imagery and data to help better manage their utility assets to stay on top of what’s happening near, or potentially on, their power lines.
Proactive Maintenance with DSM & Imagery
Digital Surface Models play a critical role in monitoring vital infrastructure like power lines. They provide a detailed view of the terrain, showing what sits on the earth’s surface, including vegetation cover, trees, and structures. What information can Vexcel DSM give you? We provided an in-depth review of DSM in a previous article that breaks down the benefits of this elevation data, highlighting the significant value of the product as well as its accessibility, as compared to LiDAR.
High-resolution imagery is another source to verify and validate what is happening on the ground around power lines. Vexcel Ortho imagery is delivered at a resolution of 7.5-15cm and is available in urban and rural areas. Plus, there’s a database of historical imagery to compare change over time.
Since utility companies are under more pressure than ever before to proactively manage vegetation around their power assets, details that come from DSM and imagery help them stay ahead of threats or issues.
By leveraging DSM and high-res aerial imagery, utility companies can pinpoint potential hazards earlier, streamline maintenance efforts, and reduce wildfire risks significantly. Here are five examples of how utility companies are making both DSM data and aerial imagery work for them.
Vegetation Encroachment Detection
Sending out crews into the field to monitor vegetation can be time-consuming whereas using DSM data allows utility managers to detect vegetation growth that is encroaching on power lines before setting foot on the ground. Plus, managers can measure the distance between vegetation and power lines thanks to high-resolution imagery and data from Vexcel. Easily use detailed ortho and DSM imagery to identify areas of concern as in the examples below.
Prioritized Maintenance Scheduling for Cost Savings
After analyzing the collected DSM data, utility managers can use it to classify the risk of the vegetation near the power lines. DSM can help managers understand vegetation height and proximity to lines, and even growth rates by monitoring change over time. This is critical to understand because certain types of vegetation grow faster than others and utility managers can prioritize how to schedule maintenance near and around lines based on this information. And once that understanding of detail comes into play, utility managers can make better decisions on how to deploy resources out into the field. By sending fewer crews out into the field for multiple inspections, utility companies are finding big savings in operational costs.
Refreshed Data to Keep Corridors Open
DSM and high-res imagery that is refreshed on a regular basis supports the ability to see what’s changed on a more regular basis. This strengthens the capacity to remotely monitor vegetation growth and help keep critical transmission corridors free from hazards or interruptions.
Support Compliance with Clear Documentation
Vexcel’s high-res DSMs and aerial imagery are used to document proof of compliance with minimum clearance distsances. Vexcel DSM can support height requirement information, while Vexcel’s highly accurate, timestamped imagery showcases the ground truth for an area at a precisely documented moment in time. The ability to prove effective monitoring with timestamped imagery and elevation data can help utility companies avoid costly penalties and prove compliance with defensible space regulations in the case of an audit or investigation.
More Consistent AI Modeling
Since Vexcel’s imagery and DSM are matched against ground control points and delivered with high accuracy and consistency, when utility companies apply AI and machine learning techniques to these products, the outputs are more reliable, leading to efficiency and precision in automated asset management. Analytics resulting from the highest-quality input data can help utility managers more readily pinpoint vegetation trouble spots with confidence.
Access a Library of Data Today
Start elevating your view to monitor your utility assets with Vexcel’s highly accurate DSM data and library of high-resolution aerial imagery. It supports many needs utility managers are looking for to keep power flowing and infrastructure staying strong. Fill out the form below to connect with our team on how to get started using Vexcel DSM and imagery.
