A robust approach for digital mapping of rock masses with a stereo camera

Digital rock mass mapping has advanced significantly over the last decade, primarily involving the generation of point clouds from exposed rock surfaces. Subsequently, various algorithms have been employed to identify and map the planar segments of these point clouds, representing the surfaces of rock discontinuities. However, this method often overlooks data from the traces of discontinuities that may be present on the exposed rock surfaces. Therefore, utilising stereo cameras could be more effective compared to LiDAR scanning methods for mapping rock masses, as they can capture the rock surface texture (traces of discontinuities on the rock mass exposures) along with the visible planar elements. In this manuscript, we demonstrate a robust mapping algorithm developed for rock mass mapping with a stereo camera, which can be used not only for mapping but also for georeferencing the mapped discontinuities. Furthermore, we provide a demonstrative example where the method is used for rock mass mapping and identifying the rock block size distribution in intact rock.