Case Study: V3 Companies achieves accurate, efficient surveying of a river-spanning parking deck with Trimble

V3 Companies - Customer Case Study

V3 Companies, Ltd., a multidisciplinary consulting firm, was hired to assess the aging Riverside Drive Parking Deck in Elgin, Illinois—a large mid‑1960s structure built on hundreds of concrete piles over the Fox River whose internal steel reinforcement was corroding (a trailer‑sized section fell into the river in 2003). The challenge was to perform accurate surveys under the deck and in shallow river conditions where setups in the mud could not be revisited.

V3 used a Trimble-centered workflow—GX 3D scanning with resection techniques, a Trimble VX Spatial Station, GNSS receivers tied to a local coordinate system via the Precision Midwest VRS network, and PointScape on a rugged laptop (working from a rowboat)—to collect more data faster and verify points in the field. The approach let mostly one‑person crews efficiently maintain a single, consistent data stream, extend control from adjacent roadways, and produce reliable information for reuse and future waterfront renewal, with lessons applicable to other aging infrastructure projects.

V3 Companies

Grant Van Bortel

Survey Technology Manager