Photogrammetry in the digital transformation of forensic examination of incidents involving construction and road machinery

Abstract

The paper examines the use of photogrammetry in the forensic examination of incidents involving construction and road machinery: road traffic accidents involving self-propelled machines, accidents and injuries at construction sites and road work zones, and damage to and failure of steel structures. It is shown that photogrammetry should be regarded not only as a means of obtaining three-dimensional images, but also as an element of the digital infrastructure of an expert institution. The objects to be recorded that are specific to construction and road machinery (tracks of crawler and wheeled running gear, marks left by working tools, deformations of load-bearing steel structures and cabs, bearing surface parameters in the work zone) are systematized, together with the parameters determined from their 3D models. Requirements for photographing large-sized machinery are formulated: scaling by independent control distances, image acquisition scheme and overlap, combination of terrestrial and UAV imagery in a common coordinate system, and independent accuracy verification. A stepwise implementation model, a digital archive record structure, a three-level quality control system, a set of organizational, economic, qualitative and managerial performance indicators, and a model for estimating the economic effect are proposed. Risks are considered, including metric unreliability of models of extended objects, insufficient staff qualifications and information security threats. It is concluded that, when integrated with a digital archive, internal quality control and personnel training, photogrammetry increases the completeness of recording and the reproducibility of measurements in the examination of construction and road machinery and reduces the storage time of large-sized machines, the number of repeated site visits and forced machine downtime.