OPEN PIT MINING
An open pit runs on a repeating cycle: fly the pit, build the surface, work out what moved, check the geometry against the plan, and hand the numbers to production and to the client. STREAM is desktop software built around that cycle. It takes the surfaces your photogrammetry package produces, turns them into volumes, bench geometry, haul roads and blast patterns, and produces the drawings and reports the site actually runs on — locally, without sending your survey anywhere.
The pit is flown with a drone and processed in a photogrammetry package — the DEM, the orthophoto and the point cloud come out of there. That is where STREAM starts, not competes: it consumes those outputs and takes them the rest of the way to an engineering answer.
That means the questions after the surface exists. How much was moved this period, and does it match what production reported. Is the bench where the plan says it should be, and is the face angle inside the limit. Will the ramp climb at the grade the trucks need. Where do the holes go on this bench, and how much rock stands in front of each one. What goes in the monthly report, and does the client get a drawing they can open in CAD.
The core measurement in an operating pit is the difference between two dates. STREAM compares this month's surface with last month's and returns the cut and fill volumes, either over the whole pit or inside an area you draw — a single bench, a single cut, a stockpile.
Volumes can be taken against a reference surface, a flat elevation, or another survey. Cross-section volumes are available for the cases where the earthwork convention is section-based rather than surface-based, and stockpiles are measured against a toe boundary with a report to go with them.
Two surveys can also be viewed side by side, so a change that looks like production is checked against what actually moved rather than assumed.
Bench geometry is where survey meets design. STREAM builds a benched slope from bench height, berm width and face angle, computes where that design meets the existing ground, and reports the excavation quantity — the same tool works for a spoil dump, where the number you want is capacity rather than excavation.
The geometric checks that catch real mistakes run alongside: overall slope angle against your limit, a berm too narrow for machine access, a slope that never daylights, a partial last bench. Geotechnical stability — a factor of safety — is deliberately outside the scope and stays with the engineer.
Haul roads are designed on the same terrain: an alignment with a grade, a running width, and the earthwork it costs to build.
A blast pattern is laid out on the bench you surveyed, not on an assumed flat. Collar elevations are read from the terrain, so hole depths follow the real crest rather than a nominal one, and burden is measured in three dimensions against the actual free face — on a battered face the rock standing in front of an inclined hole differs at every elevation.
The hole table, the drawings and the report come out of the same layout. Charging, delay timing, vibration and fragmentation modelling are outside the scope.
Nothing stays locked in the application. Contours, sections, ore and design lines go to DXF for CAD; quantity tables go to CSV and Excel; surfaces and orthophotos go back out as GeoTIFF; a map or a KMZ goes to whoever needs to see it without engineering software; and the module reports come out as PDF with the parameters and checks that produced the numbers.
Everything runs on the machine in front of you. The pit survey never leaves the site network, which for most mining companies is the difference between a tool that can be used and one that has to go through an approval that never comes.
Each step has its own page with the detail, the supported formats and the questions people actually ask.
Volumes, stockpiles and pit change between two surveys.
Learn moreCut and fill against a surface, a flat elevation or another survey.
Learn moreBenched slopes, platform levels and the excavation they cost.
Learn moreHaul road alignment, grade and earthwork.
Learn moreDrill patterns on the surveyed bench, with burden measured in 3D.
Learn moreStockpile volume against a toe boundary, with a report.
Learn moreSection-based earthwork quantities along an alignment.
Learn moreWhat moved between two dates, and by how much.
Learn moreCleaning the survey before it becomes a quantity.
Learn moreStreaming a gigabyte-scale pit survey without waiting for it to load.
Learn moreNo. STREAM starts where photogrammetry ends. Your drone imagery is still processed into a DEM, an orthophoto and a point cloud in the package you already use; STREAM takes those outputs and turns them into volumes, bench geometry, haul roads, blast patterns and reports.
Yes. Load the two surveys and STREAM returns the cut and fill volumes between them, over the whole pit or inside an area you draw. Stockpiles are measured separately against their toe, and the two surveys can be compared side by side.
No. STREAM checks the geometry of a design — overall angle against the limit you set, berm width, whether the slope daylights, whether the last bench is partial. Geotechnical stability analysis is a different discipline and remains the engineer's responsibility.
It covers the terrain and quantity side of mine engineering: surfaces, volumes, bench and haul road geometry, blast patterns and reporting. Geological block modelling, production scheduling and mine optimisation are not part of it.
Surfaces are streamed out of core, so a pit survey larger than available memory still pans and zooms at full resolution. Only the area you are looking at is held at full detail.
No. Processing runs entirely on the local machine, offline. Only the account sign-in uses the internet.
Free beta for Windows x64. Works fully offline with GeoTIFF, LAS/LAZ and DXF.
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