Winter OPM and DTM of ski resorts

The digital terrain model as well as the orthophotomap of ski resorts in the Krkonoše Mountains (Czechia) and Jasná (Slovakia) are used as a basis for the SNOWsat system, which is used to increase the efficiency of snowmaking and manage snow cats in skiing areas. The SNOWsat system provides ski resort staff with comprehensive information about the location of snow cats on the slopes, the operational parameters of the snow cats, their locations and numbers of passages; the location of snow cannon, shafts and anchor points on the slopes. This information is stored on the server and allows an analysis of optimum traffic to be performed. The snow cat driver can then monitor the vehicle, its location and current snow depth directly on a display in the cab.

The digital model of the terrain of ski resorts in the Krkonoše Mountains from 2018 was created by aerial laser scanning. Due to the specific requirement of using DTM for snow depth measurement, it was necessary to create the product with very high accuracy, with mean error of position coordinates not exceeding ± 5 cm and mean height error not exceeding ± 3 cm. The density of the scanned points had to be at least 8 points/m².

Another product was an orthophotomap with an emphasis on depicting the main geographical features of the ski resort, such as the slopes and their boundaries (at different times of the season), the location of snow cannon, hydrants, cableways and buildings in its precinct.

Altogether three ski resorts were processed in the Krkonoše Mountains: Černá Hora (area of 5.45km2 and 16.5km of ski runs), Pec pod Sněžkou (area of 2.24km2 ,14km of ski runs) and Špindlerův Mlýn (area of 4.75km2 with a total length of ski runs of 25km).

Also, we processed the area of Slovak ski resort Jasná-Chopok, which is one of the best ski resorts in Central Europe outside the Alps. We have been taking photographs of this resort for several seasons now, the area to be processed is approximately 44 km2. The resort offers over 50km of ski runs and 27 cableways and ski lifts with a transport capacity of over 31,000 people/hour. A modern 35-km long snowmaking system provides a snow guarantee for at least 5 months of the year.