TABLE OF CONTENTS Many attempts have been made to develop cost-effective GPR for utility detection. The goal of most of the commissioning organisations is to map all the buried utilities and structures to enable rapid installation of new plant with the minimum disruption and damage to existing plant. All of the utilities - gas, water, sewage, electricity, telephone, cable, etc. - need to co-exist and avoid collateral damage. The effects and costs of damage, the costs of restitution, insurance and local legislation all provide powerful incentives to improve underground mapping and enable trenchless installation. Organisations such as GRI and EPRI in the United States, the utility companies in Japan, UK, Germany, France, etc., have all invested heavily in development.
While there has been gradual market penetration of GPR technology, several factors have limited its acceptance. The first and most important is that the soil attenuation in particular soils, in any country, limits the potential areas of use. In regions where there is heavy clay then GPR does not work. This means realistically that only 60 70% of the total land area may be suitable for GPR surveying. In the UK, London is built on significantly large regions of heavy clay and GPR often struggles to detect buried targets. The second factor concerns the density of utility plant in major urban areas. Where there is the usual interwoven 'spaghetti' of pipes, cables, etc. it is difficult to clearly image the situation. This is just where such clarity is needed. The third factor is...
