News

Storm Geomatics surveyors have been working in and around the nuclear power plant at Sizewell, Suffolk. Surveyors were given a brief to survey a variety of water boreholes, piezometers and open channel cross sections in the vicinity of the site. This was a tough job for many reasons – access being the main one. Working on nuclear power plants can be extremely dangerous and our surveyors attended a two day course to learn about all safety elements. Once on site regular safety audits were made whilst the surveyors battled the marshy terrain to reach the required survey locations. Our surveyors proved once again that they can get through the toughest of tasks!

After months of preparation, consultations and re-organisation Storm Geomatics have attained the very distinctive Achilles Linkup membership. An audit of the company procedures, management systems and health [&] safety was performed in October and revealed only a few small gaps in the robust systems that Storm Geomatics operate under. The gaps were filled by appointing a specialist advisor from the rail industry to oversee all Storm Geomatics rail management systems for the next twelve months.

Geo Business is the new major geospatial event for our industry which is supported by CICES, TSA and RICS. All major players within the geospatial community will be at the event, whether exhibiting, presenting, demonstrating or just attending. Mike Hopkins – Managing Director of Storm Geomatics has been invited on the technical conference committee to assess papers submitted for presentation at the event.

Opening big parcels containing the very latest surveying equipment is like getting in your new car and starting it up for the first time. Storm Geomatics are only the third buyer in the UK of the new Leica MS50 Multi Station. The Multi Station combines speed with accuracy and can be used as a total station or a laser scanner. The laser scanner is regarded as one of the “cleanest” in the business and records data at up to 1000 points per second. The promotional video is pretty awesome, take a few moments to have a look at it here.

Storm Geomatics are supplying the data rich format EACSD v3.2. The format is now a required deliverable when conforming to The Environment Agency Specification for Surveying Services v3.2. The text format has been designed by the Environment Agency to enable river modellers to receive more detailed information about river channels and their structures within the river model data that they import into their systems from surveyors.

Storm Geomatics were very pleased to be asked to provide detailed river channel surveys across three catchments in the Midlands. The river surveys ranged from small brooks to medium sized rivers and were located in areas close to Tewkesbury, Nottingham and Burton-on-Trent. By using multiple survey crews and a system of staged delivery, Storm was able to deliver to the client requirements on time and within the fixed fee.

Storm Geomatics were appointed a project by a leading consulting engineer to create a detailed 3D model of the surface at Kirkgate in Wakefield. The 3D model is being used to assess the flood alleviation options in the area. Currently there is a small flood storage area in the centre of the roundabout which is also used as a subway. The 3D model was surveyed using hand picked points with a prism and total station to provide a highly accurate model.

Storm Geomatics Limited has announced certification of its staff under the National Water Hygiene Scheme (NWHS). The National Water Hygiene Scheme (NWHS) was created in January 2006 for the UK drinking water industry and all company field staff have now received training and certification under the scheme that will enable them to work on the new contracts. The National Water Hygiene Scheme was devised by Water UK and Energy and Utility Skills in partnership with the UK water industry.

Storm GeoRiver, the river model creation software; is proving to be more than a tool – it is an engine. Anthony Pritchard operations director says “Our surveyors are using this software every day to produce the deliverables that our clients want. Storm GeoRiver is reliable in handling river channel data and high in performance when it comes to reaching the quality and speed that is required. Our surveyors quickly found that they could trust and enjoy using the software on a daily basis. The more they use it, the more they find it works for not only channels but for other tasks such as embankment and road profiles. Because it is a standalone piece of software which is cloud licenced, we have installed it on every machine in the office so wherever you sit or wherever you are in the world, all you need is your username and password to use the software – no more queueing for computers with a pyramid of expensive software loaded on them to run a bolted on app or tool – we can share a single licence across the whole company and have the strong processing engine of Storm GeoRiver on every PC – a “must have” piece of software for anyone involved in creating river models.”