Abax First in Australia with Propeller-Powered Trimble Stratus
Abax Contracting Pty. Ltd. has reaffirmed its leadership in state of the art construction services by becoming the first company in Australia with Trimble Stratus cloud-based analytics platform for visualizing drone survey data. Stratus is a cloud-based analytics platform, powered by Propeller Aero, that visualizes drone survey data to help heavy civil construction and resources operations measure and manage their worksites themselves.
The team from SITECH Solutions were onsite to assist Abax with their first flyover, which was set at 35m altitude using a DJI Mavic Pro drone.
A relatively small job for Abax, the five-acre site at Kellyville will be subdivided into 45 lots for housing to be constructed by Clarendon Homes.
“Contractually, civil contractors are required to provide progress surveys on their projects and Trimble Stratus will produce these for Abax,” said Project Engineer Jack Widdowson about the company’s latest purchase.
“We can also easily provide project update photos to clients who can log in to view month-by-month progress,” he said.
“Trimble Stratus will save us a lot of time on site surveying. It will be used in confirming natural surface models and stockpiles, and allows for fast and accurate progress claims.
“In addition there is the safety aspect,” he added. “You don’t need to have a surveyor walking about on site if you have machinery around.”
Trimble Stratus is so easy to use, especially with drones like those from DJI, which come with a great warranty and an easy iPad interface.
“Ten AeroPoints—ground control points—are included in the pack with Trimble Stratus,” says Rhys Geerligs, of survey and software sales with SITECH Solutions. Propeller’s AeroPoints are the world’s first smart ground control solution, purpose-built for drone operations. Featuring a solar panel, battery, GPS, and WiFi inside each fully-sealed, rugged, lightweight unit, AeroPoints make capturing accurate data simple and affordable.
“The AeroPoints are strategically placed around the site and you fly the site with the drone on a preset flight path. Collect the AeroPoints and upload the AeroPoint data and drone images to Trimble Stratus. The dataset is processed and returned within hours, allowing you to analyze and share site maps and models quickly and easily.”
About Abax
Abax Contracting is a civil contracting-based company serving the needs of a multitude of clients’ ventures in and around the greater Sydney Metropolitan Area.
With a broad business focus—from civil contracting to land acquisition and development—Abax has an extensive range of earthmoving equipment and resources allowing them to undertake a large range of residential, commercial, and industrial civil projects.
Established in 1968 by John Baxter as a compressor hire company, Abax soon grew to offer a vast range of plant and equipment hire, general contracting, and trenching services to Sydney’s ever-growing suburban fringe.
Abax introduced an impressive fleet of hydraulic excavators into the market place in the early 1980s. Toward the end of that decade, Abax expanded operations to include extensive quarrying and landfill operations in Sydney’s West.
The early 1990s saw the company move into demolition work, undertaking impressive works such as Harbourside shopping complex redevelopment at Darling Harbour.
Construction technology pioneer
To this day, a modern fleet of earthmoving plant remains the centrepiece of Abax Contracting and under the direction of Matt Baxter, the company prides itself on its leadership in construction technology.
Abax has enjoyed a great partnership with SITECH Solutions over the past 12 years, which has contributed to the company’s pioneering position within the civil contracting industry in Australia.
Not only Australia’s first with Trimble Stratus, Abax was also the first in the nation with the Trimble Connected Community (TCC) upon its release.
Propeller-powered Trimble Stratus—the logical solution
When looking for drones and drone technology, the obvious choice for Abax was Trimble Stratus and Propeller.
The solution is seamless for Abax as it integrates with all of the Trimble technology that they currently have in place, such as their Trimble Business Centre—HCE. And DJI’s drones are the best value and best fit for most sites. The data created through Trimble Stratus can then be used for their Trimble 3D GPS Systems for excavators and graders, Trimble Site Rovers, and Trimble Connected Community, allowing information sharing in real-time using the internet and making efficient, integrated data management a reality.
“Trimble Stratus is relatively inexpensive compared to the alternatives and more efficient as well. While the dataset is being processed autonomously you can work on other projects, saving you time and money,” said Geerligs.
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