So I have a 3D Laser Scanner – now what?
There is a common misconception that 3D laser scanning is a one-size-fits-all solution for every project. The truth is, this new technology is powerful – but it’s not for every surveying firm and it’s not a fit for every project.
First, surveying with a scanner is not the same as with a total station or GPS. For one, there are no field notes – just lots of data points and photographic files.
Another important distinction is the line of site requirement. When a survey crew sets up a survey instrument, they are typically looking for a line of site to the next point. That’s not the case with a scanner, which requires a more focused coverage. Some setups may only be 15 feet from the last if you need to get more views of a complicated structure.
With laser scanning, it is common to gather data that the client does not need at the time, but may need to use later. Once a site is scanned and post-processed, engineers and analysts can check and re-check engineering quality data on a desktop computer any time.
Computer power plays a significant role in successful laser scanning. The post-processing of laser scanned data is critical and can be tedious on older computers. Before buying into scanning technology, invest in at least 64-bit machines with fast graphics cards and as much RAM memory as possible.
You may want one computer to process the scan data and another to process the photographic data. Laser scanners create enormous files that must be managed carefully in a consistent workflow. (Our exterior projects normally have 1 to 10 gigabytes of data and a major industrial facility can have over 150 gigabytes of data.) Create to processes and work flows to store and back up everything.
Finally, don’t expect clients to beat down your door, demanding a 3D laser scan. Buying a scanner won’t make jobs magically appear. The market is just learning about this technology and though it is well worth the investment for those firms willing to do the legwork to find the clients who want and need its special capabilities, you will have to do a lot of educating and demonstrations of what the world of 3D can bring to clients.
The key is listening to your clients and understanding their needs. Keep in mind that many potential clients don’t know what questions to ask. Until laser scanning becomes as common as GPS, surveyors will have to educate owners, architects, engineers and contractors about the benefits.
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Tate Jones has over 40 years of experience in land and aerial surveying and was one of the country’s earliest adopters of 3D laser scanning technology. A nationally recognized expert in the field of 3D data capture, he has worked with hundreds of clients in the engineering, architectural and construction industries. Contact him at tjones@lasurveying.com. To learn more about 3D laser surveys, visit www.3DLaserSurveys.com.
In part 1 of my review of SPAR 2011 I referred to the new and fascinating innovations in software over the past year. I think probably the most important was the information from Autodesk that Revit 2012 will have a point cloud engine and many of the capabilities that other point cloud soft programs have and some new ones. Revit has become the standard for BIM for the private sector and the Architectural world, so this was a very important release. This will enable the Architectural community to be able to bring in and reference registered point clouds, and to benefit from the data-rich field that other software has been using. I have read many articles debating whether Architectural design firms wanted to be responsible for information contained within point clouds and there are good points on both sides of the room on this. However this new release will allow them to compare their design to actual conditions within the point cloud (clash detection) and just this ability alone will lead to construction savings and fewer design revisions. One of the new tools that was reviewed was their automatic feature extraction. This is the beginning of a road that will lead to many great advances in the point cloud technology. I saw this first in the mobile scanning programs. In that example you could fence in a sign type like a merge sign on an interstate on ramp and tell the software to go find it and it would retrieve 80 to 95% of the similar signs in the cloud. Inside the new Revit point cloud they are in the process of
using similar technology to locate and capture elements that are already in the point cloud. This will lead to very big productivity gains. Just imagine if you could locate and detail all the windows in a building and have them sized and dimensioned automatically from just locating one and then having the software look for the remaining similar windows.
ClearEdge3D has come through again. In the automated modeling world they were one of the first to come out with a software that detected flat surfaces for Architectural and structural modeling. They have again raised the bar with their new release of EdgeWise Plant. They have designed a plant and pipe software that can analyze a point cloud and automatically detect and model about 50% of the pipes in a minimal amount of time. Users were reporting that the time to model was approaching 1/3 the previous time on the same types of projects. There is still work to be done for total automation but remember 3 years ago there was not a point cloud to model automatic software! Now we are able to detect flat surfaces and pipe shapes. All will be improved as time goes on but what a great leap. I talk to some of my associates in the modeling business and they were looking at investing in the product. This was the first year some of them had considered making the step up.
At the end of the second day, I and a few other associates I have seen over the years went to the booth for XYZ RGB. This stuff was so advanced that we had trouble understanding what made it work. The technology uses a set of two digital cameras and an additional random dot projector and software and can capture an image and turn it into a point cloud of very fine mesh. He could even photograph objects using Apple IPHONES. It is used in the movie, gaming and animation industries. It is excellent in small areas and does almost live animation of people. It can turn a photograph of a person into a model almost instantly. Very creative! I am sure it has uses that have not been tried yet.
police departments all over the world. This technology gives the crime team and defense team ways to capture and show crime scene information that was not available until a few years ago. The technology literally allows either team, the prosecution or the defense, the ability to bring a scene into the courtroom so that everyone can view it. It has been praised by Georgia trial judges. Just this month the Georgia Bureau of Investigation has begun using a 3D Laser Scanner.
Broad Specifications
All of this is done with photography and scanned points that are registered together and which are scientifically calibrated and precise. These tools are very powerful communication tools and judges like them because they save the jury trips to the site. Police departments all over America are now starting to use this method to document their crime scenes and present their evidence of a crime. They are able to use the information collected to show line of site details and what perpetrators and victims saw from different points of view. If new evidence comes up a year later they can make new measurements from the original data.
LandAir Surveying began doing business in the 1988 by offering site and topographic surveys to the engineering and construction industry. The company originally started with two survey crews. There were fewer than ten employees and surveying services were offered in Georgia and nearby states. Over the next ten years the business expanded tremendously to include cell tower site surveying services to telecommunications providers. Three-thousand or more cell tower sites were surveyed with conventional survey methods. In 2002 there was a shift of focus to transportation engineering projects and in 2005 we got a project to survey the I-20 Bridge over a large river near Atlanta, Georgia. It was this shift that transformed the technology used and overall business direction of LandAir Surveying. Problems arose with the traditional surveying methods. The size and length of the bridge made it difficult for a survey team to get an accurate survey with the traditional survey equipment. Our owner sought alternative solutions and in the process determined that 3D laser scanning could be used to achieve more reliable results for the bridge survey.
came calls for exterior, interior, and structural surveys of various buildings and environments. 3D laser scanning made it possible to easily scan a building and produce drawings and 3D data sets based on the scan. Time required to produce an accurate survey was reduced with the help of this technology. Enhanced scanning allows surveying of building areas that are not easily accessible without the technology. Larger jobs such as wide spread manufacturing facilities have more accurate site surveys with complete 3D imaging and laser scanning is becoming more of a standard in these environments. These types of surveys would not be possible with traditional surveying methods. Data processing had to be refined to better handle bigger data sets created by laser scanning. New scanning innovations have created safer work environments for surveying crews and new business opportunities.
