Stockpile Survey with the ViLi i100 RTK

Stockpile and excavation volumes are among the most frequent measurements on a construction site. A contractor needs them to bill for material moved, a site manager needs them to track progress, and a client needs them to sign off the work. The usual stockpile survey is slow on both ends: a surveyor walks the pile collecting points one at a time, then someone in the office exports the data, builds a surface and runs the calculation. This article describes how to perform the same task using the CHCNAV ViLi i100, where the scanning, calculation, and report generation are all performed on the receiver and its controller before the team leaves the site.

If you want to know how a point cloud measurement compares with point by point collection in the first place, question 4 of our seven questions about the ViLi i100 covers it. Here the focus is the workflow itself.

Stockpile of soil at a construction site ready for volume measurement. — Left: A stockpile survey site with a large soil pile ready for volume measurement. Right: The CHCNAV ViLi i100, a Visual-LiDAR GNSS RTK receiver used to capture detailed point cloud data for accurate stockpile surveys.

What a Stockpile Survey Has to Deliver

Whatever the site, the deliverable is the same: a volume that the people paying for the material will accept. That means three things.

A number. The cut and fill volumes for a clearly defined area.
Evidence. Something that shows how the number was reached, so it can be checked if it is questioned.
A record. Data that can be returned to if the volume needs to be calculated again.

Collecting points across a rough, loose pile is tiring and exposes the surveyor to slips. Every change of software between the field and the office adds time before anyone sees a result. The ViLi i100 workflow removes both, in four steps.

Step 1: Scan the Pile Without Walking on It

The receiver connects to the controller over Wi-Fi. After initialization, the surveyor walks around the pile and lets the LiDAR capture its surface at up to 860,000 points per second. Two habits give a complete, detailed point cloud: move at a steady pace, and keep a consistent distance from the surface.

Surveyor scanning a soil stockpile from the edge using the CHCNAV ViLi i100. — A surveyor scans a stockpile from its edge using the CHCNAV ViLi i100. The Visual-LiDAR technology captures the pile's surface without requiring the surveyor to climb onto the unstable material.

Step 2: Choose the Mode and Draw the Boundary

When the scan ends, the controller moves straight into the earthwork calculation in LandStar. There is no computer to switch to and no file to export. Two calculation modes match the two jobs a surveyor usually faces:

Mode	Typical job
Stockpile	Material heaped above the ground, such as soil, aggregate or fill waiting to be used or removed
Pit	An excavation below the ground, such as a foundation pit or trench

The surveyor then draws the boundary of the area to calculate on the screen. Anything outside that line is left out of the result, so data from the surrounding ground or a neighboring pile does not inflate the volume.

Step 3: Get the Cut and Fill Volumes on Site

LandStar computes the volume on the controller. The result appears together with the 3D point cloud it came from, so the surveyor can see at once whether the scan covered the whole pile before packing up.

3D point cloud of a soil stockpile captured with the ViLi i100 for earthwork volume calculation. — A stockpile scanned with the CHCNAV ViLi i100 and visualized as a dense point cloud for earthwork volume calculation. The point cloud displays surface elevations and true colors, helping surveyors analyze stockpile geometry and calculate material volumes directly in the field.

Step 4: Export the Report and Keep the Data

The calculation can be exported as a report in PDF or HTML format, ready to send to the site manager or the client the same day. The report pairs the cut and fill volumes with the point cloud view, which answers the evidence requirement without a separate document.

The point cloud from every survey is saved in the project on the controller. If the volume needs to be calculated again, for a revised boundary or a second check, the data is opened from the project instead of returning to the site.

Step	Where it happens	What it produces
1. Scan	On site, receiver and controller over Wi-Fi	Point cloud of the pile or pit
2. Mode and boundary	LandStar on the controller	The area to calculate
3. Calculate	LandStar on the controller	Cut and fill volumes
4. Report and store	LandStar on the controller	PDF or HTML report, point cloud saved for later

Where Stockpile Surveys Come Up

Road construction. Fill brought in for embankments and spoil from cuttings, measured as the work moves along the route.
Water conservancy projects. Excavation for channels and embankments, and the material placed in them.
Site leveling. The balance of cut and fill across a site before building starts.
Farmland planning. Earth moved when fields are leveled or reshaped.

In each case the same receiver also does the rest of the survey work on site, as a standard GNSS RTK receiver. If you are comparing receivers for this kind of mixed work, our guide to choosing a GNSS receiver for your survey site sets the range side by side, and our surveying and engineering solutions page covers the wider equipment set.

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About CHC Navigation

CHC Navigation (CHCNAV) develops advanced mapping, navigation, and positioning solutions designed to increase productivity and efficiency. Serving industries such as geospatial, agriculture, machine control and autonomy, CHCNAV delivers innovative technologies that empower professionals and drive industry advancement. With a global presence spanning over 140 countries and a team of more than 2,200 professionals, CHC Navigation is recognized as a leader in the geospatial industry and beyond. For more information about CHC Navigation [300627.SZ], please visit: https://geospatial.chcnav.com/about/overview

Stockpile Surveys, from Scan to Report on Site