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How Interhole Distance Analysis Keep Drill Patterns on Target 

Precision in blast design hinges on accurate spatial relationships between boreholes and rows. 3GSM’s BlastMetriX BlastPlanner provides an advanced Interhole Distances tool that lets engineers visualize, measure, and validate spacing—directly impacting blast quality, cost, and safety. 

Why Interhole Distances Matter

Poorly designed blasts often result in uneven and unwanted fragmentation and oversizes, which increases the effort needed for loading, hauling, and primary or secondary crushing. In addition, it may lead to irregular bench faces and uneven floors, making future excavation more difficult and reducing the amount of usable material. Even minor deviations in the drill pattern can cascade across an entire blast site. BlastPlanner’s dedicated module supports your drill pattern analysis and enables you to: 

  • Measure the distance between every pair of boreholes at user-defined elevations in the bench. 
  • Calculate distances between rows, including side spacing, to maintain a uniform burden. 
  • Visualize results in plan views, color-coded lines, or heat maps for rapid spotting of irregularities. 

Improved drill pattern analysis contributes to sustainably lower production costs while enhancing safety – by creating more stable walls and floors, reducing fly-rock, and minimizing vibrations near the quarry. 

How It Fits Into Your Workflow 

When activated, the Interhole Distances dialog overlays the drill pattern with a network of lines, instantly revealing the “health” of the pattern and any deviation from blasting specifications. Whether reviewing a new design, verifying as-drilled patterns, or auditing for quality assurance, this tool gives engineers the transparency to make informed decisions with confidence. 

For example, a plan view can be generated showing color-coded distances at the collar elevation, pinpointing a cluster of boreholes deviating from the design. The engineer can either adjust planned explosives loading or instruct the drill crew for redrilling as necessary—saving cost, enhancing safety, and boosting blast outcomes. 

Understanding Interhole and Row Distances 

At its core, this tool measures the spacing between: 

  • Individual boreholes (Mode “Borehole distances”) 
  • Entire rows of boreholes (Mode “Row distances”) 

These measurements are calculated using a projection plane – a virtual slicing layer that defines the height at which the distances are evaluated. Whether you need to inspect spacing at the collar, mid-bench, or near the toe, the projection plane offers the flexibility to do so.

Figure 1: Interhole Distances pane in “Borehole distances” mode. 
1 – Plan view showing measured distances between boreholes at the projection plane height. 
2 – Mode selection (Borehole distances or Row distances). 
3 – View options, including toggles for boreholes, names, distance values, and area display. 
4 – Projection plane settings (horizontal or parallel to floor plane) and height input. 
5 – Tolerance-based coloring controls, including target value and tolerance settings. 
6 – Export option for saving interhole distance data as a CSV file. 

Customizable Projection Plane: Precision in 2D Layers 

The projection plane isn’t just a static reference, it’s adjustable to reflect real-world bench geometry. You can: 

  • Switch between Horizontal and Parallel to Floor Plane modes using the radio buttons. 
  • Enter a specific height in the Plane height field for precise elevation control. 
  • Use Move to Toe to instantly align the plane with the borehole toe elevation. 
  • Use Move to Collar to align it with the borehole collar elevation. 
  • Activate Show plane in 3D view to visualize the plane directly in the model. 
  • In Edit mode, drag the arrow handle in the 3D viewer to reposition the plane interactively. 

This flexibility allows engineers to inspect spacing at multiple levels, ensuring any alignment issues are caught whether they occur near the surface or deep in the bench. 

Figure 2: Projection plane visualized in the 3D viewer 

Color-Coded Feedback: Instantly Spot Deviations 

Once tolerances are defined, BlastPlanner uses color-coded annotations to signal whether a spacing falls within spec: 

  • Green = Distance is within tolerance 
  • Red = Distance falls below defined limits 
  • Blue – Distance exceeds defined limits 
Figure 3: Line coloring of distances between individual boreholes
Figure 4: Line coloring of distances between rows

This analysis works for both borehole distances and row distances. 

In addition, row distance mode can display a heat map where color intensity corresponds to the magnitude of deviation, making it easy to detect systematic spacing issues across the blast site. 

Figure 5: Heat map view for row distances. Color intensity corresponds to the magnitude of deviation from target spacing, enabling quick identification of systematic over- or under-spacing patterns. 

Flexible View Controls and Export Options 

  • Show/hide options: Customize plan views, display or hide boreholes and names, show distance values, or outline the covered area. This helps teams focus on specific issues without clutter, whether analyzing a single problem row or inspecting the entire pattern. 
  • Advanced tools: Exclude distances above a maximum value to focus attention on outliers. 
  • Rich exports: Generate snapshots as PNG images, full reports as PDFs, or export all interhole/row distance data to CSV files for wider analysis or integration with reporting systems. 

The Payoff: Pattern Confidence Before the Blast 

What sets BlastPlanner’s Interhole Distance analysis apart is not just its accuracy, but its usability. With a clean visual interface, live feedback, and exportable data, it brings transparency to an area of blast design that often goes unchecked. 

This feature helps engineers: 

  • Validate contractor drilling accuracy 
  • Detect systemic misalignment early 
  • Maintain consistency in high-precision operations 
  • Quickly generate visual proof for QA  

Ultimately, better blast designs and analysis can significantly lower production costs while promoting safer and more environmentally friendly operations. 

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