09-11, 16:00–16:30 (America/Chicago), Grand A
Sevenson Environmental Services (SES) has integrated FOSS solutions using QGIS and QField, to conduct surficial radiological scans with sub-centimeter GPS quality allowing for real-time data collection, statistical processing, and data visualization.
QGIS and QField have become essential tools for SES in the processing and visualization of field data, in Environmental Remediation. The customizable nature of the GIS software, allows us the ability to collect, process, and visualize surface gamma scans (SGS) to implement our daily operations at FUSRAP Sites for clients like the U.S. Army Corp. of Engineers (USACE) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Available commercial software and methods for conducting SGS’s are proprietary, require data processing to see the survey results, were difficult to customize to fit our purpose, and incurred significant associated costs (if it could be done at all). I was tasked with the problem: find a better system. Previous experience with QGIS, led me to explore other FOSS solutions. Working in collaboration with the GeoNinga’s at the Swiss company OPENGIS.ch, and SES’s Dan Caputo Ph.D., and Terranear PMC’s Don Wadsworth, MS.HP, we have to developed and implemented a sensor framework, which allows QGIS and QField to collect data from external radiological detectors (e.g., Ludlum 2221 w/ NaI 3x3 Probe and Ludlum Model 3001 w/ NaI 3x3), process the data (calculate statistics such as average, minimum, maximum, and standard deviation z-scoring), and visualize the data in real-time to keep our Radiological Protection Technicians (RPTs) safe and provide them live-time data, minimizing the technicians time spent in a contaminated open-excavation. This process, via FOSS, provides Sevenson RPT’s with more information in the field while also eliminating the hours spent processing the scan data to be able to know where the best sampling locations should be. With the QField SGS system, radiological readings can be styled by the sensor value directly (setting a trigger level) or applying statistical z-scoring methods with set standard deviations from the mean of the dataset. The RPT’s can visualize their scans in either style and place physical flags or digital markers at every exceedance or area to sample. This eliminates the need of removing their PPE and leaving the radiological exclusion zone and returning later after post processing the scan data. This saves valuable time, eliminating hours of time bringing the field data tablet back to the offices and puling the proprietary files off the field collection tablet and through another proprietary software to get a csv output. QField collects the data, stores it as a geopackage which can be directly exported as a csv removing the entire processing step from the industry standard method of radiological surface gamma scans. Using QGIS also allows the GIS team the ability to name scanning files, while removing the field technicians having to add them in a radiological zone. The cost of software for Sevenson Environmental Services is now greatly reduced with the integration of FOSS, like QGIS and QField, and are measurably more flexible. These software solutions allow SES to keep client confidence for their Data Quality Objectives (DQO), while also reducing fraudulent data collection due to FOSS. We have also integrated Chain of Custody’s (CoC) into our FOSS solutions to follow samples from collection to disposition while using QR codes within QField.
This presentation would fit soundly into both Use Case and Applications or Transition to FOSS4G tracks, showing examples of how sensors can be paired with FOSS on Sevenson Environmental Services’ radiological federal projects.
