Volumetric surveys are performed for several logical reasons. Primary examples would be for obtaining the volume of material stockpiles; determining an amount of required fill for large scale dig outs such as quarries or borrow pits, and quantifying change-over-time volume for instances of determining the amount of material removed in comparison to a prior survey. Typical volume surveys involve measurements for coal yards and other examples of stockpiled materials, quarries, mines, landfills, retention and excavation ponds, lakes and dam capacities.