The apparatus for recording and then mapping utilities frequently wind up being harder than what you might first think. Drawings easily get dated, lots of historic records wind up misplaced over time, and archives are further complicated in the transition from hand-drawn layouts to digital ones. On the other hand, GRP, or ground penetrating radar, is a method that distributors can use to confirm locations of subsurface utilities so that they can help with proactive work planning through the identification and avoidance of risks whenever possible. Find out more with Precision utility mapping Ireland.

Conventional tracing-location methods that use traditional electromagnetic technology can be limited since there’s a need for them to induct their signals. On the other hand, an increased usage rate of polyethylene gas, fiber optic cables and water services means that those older methods are no longer able to identify every underground utility fully. Alternatively, a GPR survey is intended to detect and then image subsurface pipes, both metallic as well as non-metallic. This is an unintrusive and non-destructive kind of survey that makes use of electromagnetic radar pulses in the radio spectrum in order to first determine and then record structures that are underneath the ground. This is a very reliable method and one of the safer ways possible for the mapping of drainage, fiber optics, water pipes, and other utility infrastructure. GRP technology can generate underground maps which then get translated into three-dimensional drawings and images when the information gets transferred to the right CAD specialist. Such drawings then get used in the planning stages of active utility projects in order to determine where underground services may or may not be placed.

Perhaps the most appealing feature of using GRP surveying for utility and construction professionals is that roads, footways, and ground surfaces don’t have to get excavated. The adoption of GRP methodology prevents any needless disturbance or digging. Consider a gas distributor who is installing pipes along a main roadway. Using the right GPR survey early on can mean identifying underground structures and utilities so that contractors only wind up digging in assigned areas where is there is actually room for their gas pipes to get laid safely and properly.