Monitoring and Analysis of Surface Changes from Undermining

Abstract

It is well known that the exploitation of mineral deposits negatively affects the environment. In the case of underground mining, there are usually the most serious effects which are associated with mining activities: movements and surface deformations lead to the creation of subsidence depressions. The determination of the actual state of surface changes by conventional surveying methods is technically exacting, time-consuming and very expensive. With the development of geo-information technologies, new approaches arise and they can be applied to resolving this issue. These resources seem to be suitable not only for providing the necessary spatial information on ongoing processes, but also for their subsequent processing and comprehensive evaluation. The presented paper deals with the possibilities of applying geo-information technologies for monitoring and evaluating the effects of underground mining on surface, summarizes the actual state of this research at ICT, and offers alternatives for their use in the future.