A new system developed in the UK lets workers scan a site through a video imager and "see" pipelines and underground utilities superimposed on real-time pictures of the terrain.
The "augmented reality" technology developed at the University of Nottingham, in Nottingham, England, overlays images of buried features on live video of a site as the viewer looks it over. The viewing device is linked to a Global Positioning System to orient the observer to previously collected data on underground utility locations. The system generates and merges 3D representations of underground features with the real-time video view.