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Getting a good estimate on laser scanning: What you need to know

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When it comes to getting an accurate estimate on laser scanning services, it’s all in the details. The more detailed information you can provide vendors upfront, the more accurate your estimate will be.

What kind of information do vendors need?

Floor plans of the site and photographs. This will go a long way in getting vendors the information they need to provide you with an accurate estimate rather than just a “high guess” because they’re not sure what they are scanning.

“Character” photographs. These photographs can show a few strategic shots, which are better than simply saying, “It’s an MEP room,” (though it’s really 40-feet tall). If possible, show examples of density.

Video walk-through of the site with a smart phone, complete with narration. This is extremely valuable to vendors to get a clear idea of the scope of the project.

Accurate information on the site and work conditions. This includes extenuating circumstances such as crews only being able to work between 11:00 PM and 5:00 AM, heavy factory work around the clock, extreme temperatures, mandatory safety training, difficult travel conditions (ex: 200 miles from the airport in “Nowhere, USA”), travel expenses not included in estimate, or dangerous site conditions like confined space entry that require special training.

For the best and most accurate price, be upfront and give providers a good idea of what they are getting into, including:

  • Travel to and from site. Include air travel, luggage, rental car, hotel and location.
  • Time on site. This is determined by how long it takes to begin work once crews get to the front gate and the available work hours. (Is it 4-6 hours max or 12 hours?)
  • Work conditions. High-density projects take longer. Lots of vibration slows down the scanning process.
  • Highly reflective material is very difficult to scan (ex: mirror glass, chrome pipes, shiny objects).
  • Heavy foot traffic (mall), loading traffic (fork lifts), or plant process (moving machinery) can complicate the project.
  • Dangerous conditions usually slow scanning, but crews can still perform and scan in sub-surface pipes or tunnels, interstate bridges and heavy construction zones.
  • Night work only always takes longer and increases the difficulty.

Other pricing considerations include the expected deliverables from the job and the level of detail you need, which software package you want data delivered in (some are faster than others), how complex the environment and large the site, and if additional trips are required back to the site.

Remember: though scanning may only take a week or less, modeling can take a month, as it is still not automated.

Most scan projects are too big to e-mail, so you can expect to receive the full deliverable on an external hard drive. Raw point cloud data can reach “gigabyte size,” though finished models and 3D data sets are typically much smaller.

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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 or visit www.landairsurveying.com.

Our 25 Hours in Haiti

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The alarm was set for 4:00 AM. It was going to be a long day.

The mission was to travel to Haiti to survey space for a new community kitchen. The existing kitchen feeds some 1,400 children each day their only meal, which most days is no more than beans and rice. They are the lucky ones. Many children in the area receive only “mud cookies,” which is exactly what you are imagining.

Several Atlanta-area churches joined together to build a new, bigger kitchen in Port au Prince that can feed as many as 10,000 people. They enlisted the help of LandAir Surveying and Paul Gresham, an architect who works with Chick-fil-a and a member of one of the involved churches, to create a base map for the master construction plan.

I made the trip to Haiti with Allen Nobles, president of Nobles Consulting Group in Tallahassee, Florida. We have been friends for many years and have worked together on projects all over the country – but nothing quite like this.

The plan was to scan the entire site consisting of an existing one-story school, an old building housing the existing kitchen, the future kitchen site, and a church and the campus walls around it. The existing kitchen has no running water and the sewer system is merely a pipe that goes through the wall to a creek out back. By Haitian standards, this is state of the art.

To further complicate matters, this is a particularly scary part of Port au Prince with a high crime rate. People are poor. Tourists have been kidnapped. Dysentery, yellow fever, malaria and cholera plague the area and the roads are full of potholes.

As we made our way through back roads crowded with cars and children, we finally arrived at the front gate of the school where the new kitchen will be built. Our van pulled into the tight driveway and the driver blew his horn, a sign for the guards to open the gate.

Once inside, we joined Paul, Pastor Vincent – the school’s headmaster – and a local architect assigned to help with the project.

Preparing to scan

Paul provided a general idea of what he needed for the design team. The school’s campus consists of a single story school building approximately 300-feet long divided into 10 classrooms. On one side of the campus is a large church that also serves as a meeting room.

In the center of the campus is a large building that is to be demolished. It houses a kitchen that is approximately 20-feet by 25-feet. The cooking equipment consists of some large bowls and pans used for both cooking and washing the dishes. The stove is simply six propane burners. This small kitchen serves 1,400 meals a day to the students and local children.

The goal was to produce a map of the campus and get enough information on the existing school so that a second floor could be added. Paul and his design team would prepare a master plan for future development, but their top priority was building a very large and modern kitchen capable of feeding 10,000 people daily.

When we decided to go on this trip, we knew we didn’t have a lot of time, so we built our equipment for lightness and mobility. It’s not easy to get all of the survey equipment you need into to backpacks and two small carry-on bags. You have to be creative and decide what you want, but take what you need.

Among that equipment was a Focus scanner and supporting equipment along with a small level, rulers, and a miniature tripod that folded up to 23-inches but expanded to about 65-inches. Allen also brought along some very handy paper targets with numbers and lead weights to hold them and a series of globes that cost around $5 each.

We had a two-minute project meeting with the architect and then taped-up 8-10 paper targets in the main area and started scanning with the Focus. Then we taped about 60 targets around the campus on the sides of the buildings, constantly moving the globes ahead of us and using the lead targets.

Once we had completed scanning the campus and buildings, we moved on to the roof.

View from the roof!

When you’re working inside the campus gates, you forget where you are. But when you are on the roof, it all comes back. Not 15-feet away, we could see a small alley filled with families and kids. Even though they were too poor to eat, they would look up at us and smile and laugh. They were very excited to see something different.

From the roof, there is also a clear view of the “river,” which is nothing more than the local sewer system run-off covered in garbage. Hogs, goats, and cows graze alongside it.

The trip also included a trek to New Life Children’s Home, an orphanage and oasis owned by a local woman named Miriam who had once found Pastor Vincent as a very small child, almost dead from starvation. She took him in and nurtured him back to health. He ended up going to college in Tennessee and returning to Haiti to start several schools and orphanages there.

The orphanage, which houses close to 100 children, has running water, bathrooms, electricity, clean bedrooms and many of the comforts of home. The electricity is run by generators and turned off at night to save energy.

After dinner, Paul asked us to look at a few of the buildings on campus to see if they could be scanned and documented. We did a quick assessment of what could be done given their tight timeframe and decided to scan one of the bigger, more complicated buildings first thing the next morning.

When all of the scans of the buildings and school were complete, Pastor Vince took us on a tour of the impoverished surrounding area known as Destiny Village.

I took a lot of pictures and some video on my iPhone, but after a while, you feel bad documenting the poverty surrounding you and realize how little they have, need or want.

What my household throws away in a week would feed two or three families.

Headed home

After clearing customs at the airport and heading back to Miami, Allen and I went our separate ways. But the 25 hours we spent in Haiti will stay with us forever.

I’m glad we were able to use scanning technology in Haiti as there is no better, faster or more precise way to document data. But the scanning was the easy part.

The hardest part was seeing how these people live and the difference between our lives and theirs. We know we can’t save all kids displaced by earthquakes, hurricanes, and dishonest dictators and government corruption in Haiti. But if the kitchen gets built and the kids get fed, we may have helped to save a few. That was worth 25 hours in Haiti.

Tate Jones and Allen Nobles have been friends in the surveying business since 2007. Tate is the president and owner of LandAir Surveying Company, based in Roswell, Georgia. Allen is president and owner of Nobles Consulting Group, based in Tallahassee, Florida. Together, they have worked on projects all over America and generally share resources and technical expertise. To learn more, visit www.landairsurveying.com and www.ncginc.com.

 

LandAir Surveying at the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) annual meeting…

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LandAir Surveying will be presenting on 3D laser scanning to the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) annual meeting for its Tennessee section this Friday, August 23. The all-day program will be held at Buddy’s in Bearden, Tennessee, and will feature multiple speakers. Our own David Headrick will be presenting at 1:00 PM (EST)!

3D laser scanning: the perfect choice for fast-growing automotive industry

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The automotive industry is firing on all cylinders – especially here in Tennessee. For the fourth year in a row, the state has been ranked No. 1 in auto industry strength.

 

Not only has Nissan been operating here for 30 years, but Tennessee is also now home to General Motors and Volkswagen’s operational plants, as well as Magneti Marelli and a number of original equipment manufacturers. In the last year, Tennessee hosted 44 automotive projects generating over $1 billion and thousands of jobs.

 

Earlier this month, GM announced plans to add 1,800 jobs at its Spring Hill assembly plant over the next three years so that it can begin building two new midsize vehicles.

 

In June, Nissan Motor Co. announced that it will add 900 jobs at its plant in Smyrna, just northeast of the GM plant. Also this month, Nissan announced plans to up production of its electric motors in its engine factory in Decherd, Tennessee. The plant is already staffing up to launch a third work shift to accommodate production.

 

As the automotive industry continues to grow, 3D laser scanning can play a major role in the redesign and construction of these plants.

 

This high definition scanning technology is the perfect tool to help automotive manufacturers retool their assembly lines, update their as-built drawings, and maximize efficiency of their production line layout.

 

How, exactly, can 3D laser scanning help?

 

#1: Reduced risk. Not only is laser scanning safer than traditional scanning methods because it allows crews to measure in places that would have previously been impossible, 3D laser scans also save money by eliminating the need for construction reworks and field retrofitting. Because of the quality of the scanned data, the number of change orders due to design flaws and unknowns is dramatically reduced.

 

#2: More precise. A laser scan takes multiple scans to collect millions of data points that are then registered together to generate a single three-dimensional “point cloud” that provides accurate distances and elevations between points on X, Y & Z coordinates. This accuracy provides the ability to perform better simulations and visualizations for training and monitoring purposes.

 

#3: Regulatory compliance. As governmental regulation and scrutiny increases, factory owners must ensure the as-built and as-maintained condition of production assets is in compliance. Laser scanning can be used to ensure plants are always safely within the regulatory guidelines.

 

#4: Huge cost savings. Laser scanning enables designers and engineers to revisit the original scan multiple times without having to physically return to the jobsite. Coordination between design and construction teams is greatly improved by providing visual documentation for discussion, and expensive construction reworks are greatly reduced.

 

Additionally, schedule compression of as much as 10% has been reported when 3D laser scanning has been deployed. This means big savings – especially on projects where outage time can cost as much as $1 million per day!

 

Conclusion

As the automotive industry continues to expand, 3D laser scanning technology can be an invaluable asset to the construction and redesign efforts of auto manufacturers to increase accuracy and efficiency while significantly saving both time and money.

 

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David Headrick has over 20 years of experience in the surveying, engineering and legal industries, both as a project manager for LandAir Surveying and as a lawyer in private practice.  He has represented numerous land surveyors, designers, architects, contractors and other industry professionals throughout his career.  Today, David serves as an executive and project manager for LandAir Surveying Company, Inc., focused on developing and managing the company’s 3D Laser Scanning Division.  Contact him at (865) 599-0148 or dheadrick@lasurveying.com.

LandAir Surveying at the Georgia Automotive Manufacturers Assoc. (GAMA)…

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LandAir Surveying Company will be at the Georgia Automotive Manufacturers Association (GAMA) annual meeting today at the Volkswagen plant outside of Chattanooga, Tennessee. Volkswagen will be conducting facility tours for participants.

The plant, which started production in 2011, is a $1 billion facility and the first stage of Volkswagen’s goal of producing 592,000 per year in this area. This is one reason why Business Facilities magazine has named the state of Tennessee number one in automotive manufacturing strength for the fourth year in a row…

Cutting edge technology becomes best practice on construction projects

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3D laser scanning is back in the headlines – this time in Louisville, Kentucky – showing further proof that this innovative technology is quickly becoming the new industry standard for construction projects across the country.

Just last week, work on the $2.6 billion Ohio River Bridges project in Louisville began and 3D laser scanning technology is playing a key role in the progress.

The project includes reconstruction of ramps for the John F. Kennedy Memorial Bridge and interchanges at the intersection of three major interstates, a second bridge to carry northbound traffic on I-65, and a new East End Bridge to connect two major highways located 10 miles from downtown Louisville.

Kentucky is excited about the project and the clock is ticking! There is reportedly $12 million in bonus awards ($40,000 per day) available to the contractors if construction is completed early and an $80,000 per day penalty if the project is late.

So, when the contracts were awarded late last year, site crews mobilized fast.

The subcontractor providing surveys for the massive transportation project is using 3D laser scanning to plot the entire landscape of construction. This technology enables sketches and plans to be  immediately uploaded to the cloud as they are completed so that crews can access the most recent data in real-time.

As a result, crews can conduct clash detection of existing and proposed construction to show if there are interferences that could potentially slow construction and can make modifications before they cause major construction problems.

As the many benefits of 3D laser scanning become more known, this technology has become a best practice for critical projects.

Many construction companies have even been rolling out flat screen computers onsite to show superintendents actual BIM models by sequence. These models are used throughout the day by workers building bridges, roads and infrastructures around the world.

Construction companies use these high definition laser scans to gather precise data on site terrain, renovations and additions. Architects use them to check proposed design models against existing conditions to fine-tune their designs, and engineers use 3D scans to work with real-world conditions in complex industrial as-built and plant environments.

The scans are quick, accurate and highly detailed and the result is big savings of both time and money. Not only can you revisit the original scan multiple times from a computer desktop, which eliminates costly return visits to the project site, but scans also prevent construction reworks and retrofitting and keep projects on time because they are completed right the first time.

At $80,000 per day, I’d say that’s worth it!

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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 or visit www.landairsurveying.com.

 

3D Laser scanning helps with job site safety

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When most people think of laser scanning, they think of capturing and documenting existing conditions prior to a construction project.

 

While this is LandAir’s primary use of our laser technology, there are many additional benefits that our clients are beginning to take advantage of from the scans we provide. One of these benefits is safety, a priority for all of us in the construction industry.

 

Virtual job site

Laser scanning is a great way to incorporate new personnel into an environment. Enabling workers to view a job site prior to physically stepping onto the site is just one valuable resource provided by a scan. 

 

Whether it is identifying hazards on a site like open pits or high traffic areas, or just identifying where the lay-down areas for supplies will be, the ability to immerse workers into a site can protect them and cut down on miscommunications in the field. 

 

Visualization can also assist with language barriers that may be present on a site or tradespeople who don’t understand the entire safety plan of everyone onsite. It can also provide “virtual tours” to interested parties or at least help them identify caution areas before walking the site. 

 

Training

Laser scanning and modeling can also provide virtual training in a 3D space. The ability to identify parts on equipment and look at the space the equipment is in helps workers identify potential hazards and ensure that they have the necessary tools to make repairs or installations. 

 

There are partner companies today who are putting virtual “how to” training guides online that demonstrate anything from changing a tire to repairing valves in a virtual environment. This virtual 3D training not only allows for repairs and replacements to be done faster, which can save money on shut downs, but lessens the time workers are exposed to the elements. 

 

Many times, moving machine parts, extreme temperatures and dangerous spaces are involved with repairs or replacements and cutting down time in the field can help get workers out of harm’s way. 

 

Clash avoidance

Many times on job sites large equipment is present and cranes are erected. Staging these areas and making sure that the equipment has room to maneuver without colliding with anything else on a site is very important. 

 

Laser scanning can provide very precise measurements of equipment and the surrounding environment prior to being onsite. A crane’s radius can be measured, modeled and dropped into the virtual site to determine where potential clash areas may exist.

 

Risk management

In the event an accident does occur, having a laser scan of the site allows the team to go back in and examine the area where the accident took place. It may provide a better understanding of how the accident happened and who may have truly been at fault. 

 

Having a 3D laser scan of the existing conditions may help limit liability and demonstrate an added level of due-diligence. This information could also be used to create a guide for “what not to do” on future sites.

 

First responders and safety plans

Providing valuable information to first responders is another benefit created by a 3D laser scan.  Demonstrating the fastest and safest routes on a job site is something that can be easily demonstrated with a laser scan.

 

Floor plans can be developed or access to a web-based viewer like Leica’s TruView can allow 360-degree views of the environment. Evacuation routes can also be reviewed and demonstrated with a fly-through video for workers on the site.

 

Deliverables

The deliverables for 3D laser scanning that we provide are various and based on the needs of our clients. We provide drawings, models, fly-throughs and TruViews.

 

Autodesk’s AutoCAD and Revit are the two most popular formats in which we deliver drawings and 3D models. Our 3D point cloud fly-throughs are easily shown in Windows Media and Leica’s TruView allows clients to see our scan set-ups in full 360 views from each station. 

 

As the virtual world and building information modeling become more prevalent in the construction industry, new uses for 3D laser scanning that provide increased safety on job sites will hopefully increase as well.

 

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Mitch Dorsett has over 15 years in the building and construction industry and serves as director of business development for LandAir Surveying. Mitch is rapidly becoming an expert in 3D data capture and virtual design and construction, having attended and represented LandAir’s laser scanning capabilities at SPAR, RTC and Autodesk University in 2012. Contact him at mdorsett@lasurveying.com or visit www.landairsurveying.com.

Come see us at RTC this week!

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LandAir Surveying’s president, Tate Jones, will speak at the Revit Technology Conference this week.

A nationally recognized expert in the field of 3D data capture and analysis, Tate has worked with hundreds of clients in the engineering, architectural and construction industries – as well as with various law enforcement and insurance companies. LandAir is one of the top as-built data capture firms in America, utilizing 3D laser scanning and Laser-to-BIM technology since 2005.

Tate’s session on “Laser Scanning: Real World Uses” will take place on Friday, July 12. (Session 7: 10:45am-12:00pm.) In this session, attendees will learn everything they need to know about laser scanning, photogrammetry and other simple technologies to document as-built conditions and turn them into BIM models, including some of the common myths and misconceptions and hard learned best practices.

Going to RTC this year? Let’s connect! Tate Jones (770) 355-4650 or Mitch Dorsett (770) 241-5326. You can also check us out online at www.LandAirSurveying.com. See you in Vancouver!…

3D Laser Scanning for Renovation of Healthcare Facilities

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As a facility, hospitals and other healthcare buildings present a unique situation.

They have the aesthetic needs of a hotel or retail store, but the engineering requirements of an industrial or mechanical facility. These competing needs make space allocation difficult for design, construction, and operations and when renovations are due, accurate as-built information is absolutely critical.

3D laser scanning delivers perfect as-built information to meet the MEP and architectural needs of even the most complicated facilities.

Changes are always afoot in hospitals

Hospitals facilities are anything but static. Improvements in technology constantly call for new equipment and can shrink or modify the size of existing equipment. 

Equipment and mechanical rooms in hospitals are notoriously crowded. Walls, ceilings, kiosks, laboratories, and operating rooms are virtually full of pipes, wires, conduits, and other tools of the MEP (mechanical, electrical, and plumbing) world. 

This makes renovations difficult for both design and construction. 

There is a human factor, too. Office layouts change as employees are churned (or “moved” in facilities management terms). Departments often have to compete for space and square footage comes at a premium!

The health and safety of employees is also a consideration. Hospitals must comply with statutory requirements related to office layouts including the minimum amount of space per employee, security features, fire safety protocol, ventilation, temperature control, restrooms, dining facilities and more.

3D Laser Scanning: Perfect asbuilt information

3D laser scanning allows architects and engineers to design renovations from perfect as-built information. This directly addresses the need for accuracy within the tight tolerances of the hospital environment. Since human measurement error is eliminated, re-designs are greatly reduced and errors and omissions on the construction and architectural plans are also of no consequence.

3D laser scanning also gives contractors the upper hand. Since designs are based on actual existing conditions, the contractor can be more confident that it is constructible as designed.  Plus, precise material schedules developed from the model help avoid cost overruns.

The contractor can also use “clash detection” to determine exactly what must be moved or removed to complete the renovation. This technique compares the scanned as-built world to the construction plans and shows which areas are trying to occupy the same space. This significantly reduces change orders.

Owners and facilities managers also save money through efficient design and construction, as they can use the 3D picture of existing site conditions as a decision-making and communication tool during construction and a facilities management tool afterwards.

How it works

A 3D laser scanner uses harmless light rays to collect the 3D location of every object and surface it can “see” from where the instrument is set up. Scanners automatically rotate 360 degrees on a tripod, sending and receiving these light rays in all directions. In about five minutes, the scanner setup is complete and millions of data points have been collected. 

This data, which is known as a “point cloud,” is a perfect 3D asbuilt of existing conditions. The point cloud can be used by itself or modeled in a software program.

Advantages over traditional as-built techniques

3D laser scanning has many advantages over traditional measuring techniques including:

  • Accessibility: 3D laser scanners collect information from areas that can be seen but not easily accessed. For instance, scanners can collect information about MEP pipes and wires running along ceilings and other inaccessible areas.
  • Speed: Each scanner setup takes less than five minutes, so scanning crews can be in and out of an area quickly, without disturbing patients and without compromising the integrity of the data.
  • Safety: Since the scanners use harmless light rays to take measurements, neither patients nor field crews are affected. In fact, field crews do not have to be in a place to measure it.
  • Detail: No other data collection system records such precise information. Architects can see finishes, molding, and other aesthetic features and engineers can measure the locations of all objects seen by the scanner.

Conclusion

The strengths and efficiencies of 3D laser scanning are extraordinarily applicable to the unique environment of healthcare facilities. From design through construction and facilities management, all parties benefit from the precise as-built information given by this remarkable technology.

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David Headrick has over 20 years of experience in the surveying, engineering, and legal industries, both as a project manager for LandAir Surveying and as a lawyer in private practice.  He has represented numerous land surveyors, designers, architects, contractors, and other industry professionals throughout his career.  Today, David serves as an executive and project manager for LandAir Surveying Company, Inc., focused on developing and managing the company’s 3D Laser Scanning Division.  Contact him at (865) 599-0148 or dheadrick@lasurveying.com.To view his LinkedIn profile, click here.

3D Laser Scanning: The Best Way to Preserve Evidence on Construction Site Accident Scenes

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Q. What do cranes collapsing in New York and Missouri and a parking garage collapse in Florida have in common?

 

A. 3D Laser Scanning was used to capture and preserve evidence on each of these accident scenes.

 

Long used by criminal prosecutors, 3D laser scanning is rapidly working its way into the world of civil litigation. The more complicated the environment, the more value 3D laser scanning can add to site preservation and collection of evidence.  

 

This technology is particularly suited to construction site accidents because they are some of the most complicated environments that litigators face.  

 

Dynamic and ever-changing, construction sites can seldom be preserved for the timeframe that it takes litigants to get to court, much less conclude discovery. Similarly, due to the complicated events on a construction site, it can be difficult to capture all relevant evidence and accurately demonstrate witness lines of site and other perspectives.

 

3D Laser Scanning overcomes all of these difficulties.

 

How it works

3D laser scanners are set up on tripods and use light to measure and record the horizontal and vertical position of everything they can “see.” They capture data from each setup in less than five minutes and are moved around to different positions to collect data from every angle. 

 

This data is used to produce a 3D world that can be visited by lawyers and experts at any time for site analysis and data collection. This data can then be turned into demonstrative exhibits for the Judge and jury.

 

Traditional data collection vs. 3D laser scanning

Site preservation of a construction accident scene is typically done by one of the following methods: 

 

1.      Hand-drawn site sketches on 2D blueprints, plus 2D photographs

2.      Land surveying total-station measurements

3.      3D laser scanning, plus 3D spherical photography

 

Hand drawn sketches based on handmade measurements are commonly used to provide rudimentary 2D diagrams for use in litigation. However, in addition to providing two instances in which human error can be introduced, site sketches are time-consuming and invariably incomplete.  Photographs certainly help paint a picture for the Judge and jury, but parts of the picture are lost in translation.

 

A land surveying total station increases the accuracy of a site sketch. However, each point must be known at the time and deliberately collected. Once the site is altered, there is no opportunity to collect additional data. Plus, the limited number of points collected by this method makes constructing an accurate 3D model difficult, and thus, less likely to be admissible in court.

 

3D laser scanning addresses all of the inaccuracies and inefficiencies by providing fast, detailed, accurate, and complete information of even the most complicated environments. Perfect as-built information can be reviewed and analyzed at any time without the need for a site visit.

 

Lines of site from any point can be reconstructed. With the addition of spherical photography, the virtual world is indeed a perfect representation of the site.

 

New tools provided by 3D laser scanning technology

3D laser scanning also gives litigators new tools that were previously too pricey or just unavailable. For instance, lawyers and experts can now easily:

 

·         Visit the construction site from anywhere in the country

·         Virtually walk around the construction site and enter any building

·         Customize viewpoints to simulate those of witnesses and actors on site

·         Overlay scanned data onto photographs and measure the distance between any points

·         Preserve data that would not have been collected upon original inspection

·         Preserve data from inaccessible areas (e.g., ceilings, unsafe areas, remote locations)

·         Create a 3D model that is accurate and admissible

·         Create video fly-throughs of the job site for the Judge and jury, including animation simulating the actual accident.

 

Case studies

Crane accidents – Crane accidents are, unfortunately, a relatively common occurrence. Cranes have completely collapsed, killing and injuring construction workers in New York City and Bellevue in 2013 and Miami and Kansas City in 2008.  

 

After these accidents, nobody wants to leave the site intact. Rescuers need access. OSHA wants the site stabilized. Owners and contractors want to continue with construction. 3D laser scanning quickly collects evidence for litigants, allowing the site to be mediated without risking spoliation of evidence.

 

Additionally, these sites are unsafe until the failed structural members can be removed. For instance, after the Missouri power plant crane collapse, OSHA erected barriers to prevent anyone from entering the scene of the collapse. However, since 3D laser scanners take measurements of anything visible, forensic site data was still able to be collected.

 

The 3D nature of the data preserved allows litigants and their structural engineering experts to make more accurate theories about the mechanisms of failure. They can work backwards to determine the causes and orders of failure that led to the collapse. It also works to disprove claims made by others.

 

Miami parking garage collapse – In October 2012, a parking garage being constructed for Miami Dade College collapsed on itself. Each floor collapsed on the one below like a stack of pancakes, killing and trapping workers inside.

 

Obviously, this site needed to be cleared to locate victims, address unsafe conditions, and finish the construction. Within 24 hours of the collapse, a 3D laser scanning crew was onsite. As a result, existing site conditions were preserved so that rescue and demolition could proceed.

 

Conclusion

3D Laser Scanning is the superior method for preservation of evidence on construction site accident scenes.

 

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David Headrick has over 20 years of experience in the surveying, engineering, and legal industries, both as a project manager for LandAir Surveying and as a lawyer in private practice.  He has represented numerous land surveyors, designers, architects, contractors, and other industry professionals throughout his career.  Today, David serves as an executive and project manager for LandAir Surveying Company, Inc., focused on developing and managing the company’s 3D Laser Scanning Division.  Contact him at (865) 599-0148 or dheadrick@lasurveying.com. View his LinkedIn profile here.