Thermal powerline rating and clearance analysis using local thermal sensor

A method for determining temperature and for thermal line analysis of an overhead electrical conductor, comprising:

• by a processor, accessing 3-dimensional location data of an overhead conductor;
• by the processor, accessing a thermal measurement of the conductor that was collected by a local thermal sensor substantially simultaneous with a time when the 3-dimensional location data was collected;
• and
• by the processor, performing a thermal analysis of the thermal measurement to determine temperature of the conductor at the time.

Apparatus for determining temperature and for thermal line analysis of an overhead electrical conductor, comprising:

• a processor;
• a non-transitory computer-readable medium on which is stored location data and thermal measurement data for a plurality of overhead electrical conductors;
• and
• a computer-readable memory containing programming instructions that enable the processor to:
• access 3-dimensional location data of a selected one of the overhead conductors;
• access a thermal measurement of the conductor that was collected substantially simultaneous with the 3-dimensional location data;
• and
• correlate the 3-dimensional location data of the selected conductor and the thermal measurement of the selected conductor to determine a temperature of the selected conductor.