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Company Culture: Buy-in is a BIG part of your early success!

Is a laser scan right for your next project? Before you jump in with this revolutionary technology, ask yourself these five critical questions:

#1: How will you use the data? This is always the first question we ask our clients. Talk it over with your provider and/or specifically state how you plan to use the data in the RFP.

#2: What software and version will you use? A point cloud processed in 2014 will not work well with 2012 software. More importantly, your CAD production may be only 20% of the potential.

#3: What exactly are your deliverables? Be specific when talking with your provider about what your expected deliverables are, whether registered point cloud 3D photography, color point cloud, black & white, a CAD-ready model, or a video fly-through of the site.

#4: What is your expected level of capture detail (expressed in inches)? For example, do you need to capture everything 2-inches or larger or 1-inch and larger? The difference in these two can be 4x the work effort! Give this a lot of thought and discussion.

#5: What coordinate system do you want to use? This can be very important, as you may have existing plans or CAD files. If the point cloud and plans are on the same system, they will align perfectly. This is also true with project elevations.

Once you have decided laser scanning is right for your project, the next step is getting buy-in from everyone in the company who will use this data. Don’t overlook this step because buy-in is key to your early success!

Be aware: there is a learning curve to using laser scans and point cloud data, but studies have shown that companies that make the transition from the old technology (two guys and a measuring tape and grid pad) to high speed data capture with precision and clarity are ultimately much more efficient.

To realize the full benefits, you will need a “champion” in upper management and a good CAD technician who genuinely loves the technology.

Plan a training budget and send your team to SPAR or similar 3D conferences. It will foster buy-in, change your workflow and increase your productivity (and profit) in the long run.

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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.

The field scanning process: How to get the best results

Once your laser scan has been ordered, there are some things you can do to prepare for our crews.

First, prior to the scan, have someone (preferably a knowledgeable project manager) onsite to communicate with the scan team when they arrive.

Make sure your plant managers know crews are coming. If there is a local safety course that needs to completed or specific plant instructions, let them know upfront. Also let crews know if there is special gear they may need like moon suits, hairnets, safety glasses or ear protection.

The project walk-through is a very valuable process because this is where we determine the location of the scanner setups. Let crews know what is most important and what is less important. If a major conduit with fiber optics, a power transmission conduit, or particular piece of machinery is important to your project, for example, it is important to let the scanning crew know.

Also make sure the scanning crew has a contact that they can call if they have questions or need clarification mid-scan.

Crews will place targets around the scan area to tie all of the scans together and will remove them upon completion of the site visit. Once they understand the limits and the prime areas of interest, the scanning process will begin.

Though it is great to watch them work, these teams are professional and the less direction they have, the better the results! A typical job can take two days to several weeks. Each night, scanned data for the day will be checked to make sure there are no gaps or geometric issues with the data.

For black and white scan data, the process is simply this: scan, move to a new location, scan, move to a new location, etc. For color data, a set of photographs is added to the process: scan, remove the scanner, add a camera, take seven photographs (six at 60-degrees horizontally, one straight up), move the scanner, take photos at the new location, replace the camera with the scanner, scan, and repeat this sequence throughout the site.

This allows our crews to produce high-quality TrueView files. When they get into a rhythm, the above sequence maximizes efficiency up to 100%.

Post Processing

When the scan data comes back into the office, data is exported from the crew’s field laptop to the desktop. On large jobs, this will take several hours.

Next, if there are color photos, the color photo data is downloaded and registered to the point cloud. This process can take 5-10 minutes per set up. Around 100 set-ups can take 15 hours of technician time. (If there is only black & white data, we skip this step.)

Once the photo data is added to the raw data, the target information is then added to the data set. The data is then run through the final registration process. This program compares the data set to all the other common data sets and produces the final registered point cloud.

The point cloud is then tested visually and geometrically to make sure there are no errors. This is done by cutting it like a wedding cake to see that all of the horizontal surfaces line up and also looking at elevation views and pipe runs to make sure that these are consistent throughout the cloud.

After these are tested, the final registered point cloud is ready to be used. Files are then loaded on to a hard drive and shipped to you, the customer!

Now that you have the point cloud data, what do you do with it?

Registered point cloud data can be exported into AutoCAD, MicroStation, Bentley, Revit, Autodesk Recap and many other computer programs. Designers can then take this data and design and model it in a 3D environment.

A TrueView map of the site showing 3D spherical data in black & white or color can be created. You can measure between points in the point cloud with this free program.

Warning: We always recommend that for precise measurements, you use the point cloud information and not TrueView. The angle of the view can affect the measured distance in TrueView. At a minimum, check the measurement from several different views.

Computer models can also be built in Revit, AutoCAD or MicroStation and delivered to the client. These models can be imported into the point cloud and then “clashed” to see if the new model interferes with the existing point cloud.

Want to learn more? Contact us today to learn if a laser scan is right for your next project.

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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.

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

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

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.

 

3D Laser Survey: The new industry benchmark

Having just turned 60 years-old, I hit one of the major benchmarks in life.

When I was younger, I can remember thinking 30 was as old as you could ever get. Time changes the way we think about things.

I started my business in 1988 and still enjoy running our firm 25 years later. I have lived through the changes from ink on Mylar to Cad drawings, the introduction of GPS and the effect the internet has had on all of our lives. The latest change in the engineering world is the natural progression from 2D plans to 3D deliverables.

In 2005, when we started collecting data with high definition lasers, we were on the cutting edge. Today, this method is becoming even more mainstream.

Most of the sales we made in those first years required us to collect data in 3D and turn it into a 2D AutoCAD or Micro station deliverable. Today, probably 15-20% of our clients just ask for the “point cloud” data and use software that is written for their design and construction needs, making the information much more user friendly. How the industry has changed.

Transportation
For many decades, we went out and surveyed roads the same way using digital survey equipment. While we still use traditional GPS and total stations, we incorporate 3D laser scanning more and more.

We were on teams that won some of the intersection projects north of Atlanta on I-85. On all of these projects, we scanned the roads, ramps, bridges and main line. Why? Because safety is always #1. Our surveyors don’t go into traffic or stand by the road unless there is no other way to do the job.

We were also able to produce very precise useable bridge data in a relatively short timeframe, which allowed our clients to begin preliminary planning. Another benefit is that the free point cloud viewer that comes with every project allows the client to visit the site, make precise measurements, and view the project in 360-degree photography without leaving their desks.

Nothing is more valuable than a site walk, but trying to remember if there were four light poles or six at a crucial intersection can be solved instantly with the click of mouse. Micro Station, AutoCAD and Revit now have programs that can import 3D survey data directly into the design file, which is a very big advantage for designers.

Structural Elements
In 1978, I was asked to survey the interior of Lenox Mall in Atlanta and produce an as-built for a structural survey. We used a steel chain and offset lines and it took many days to document simple column lines.

Now we can capture and document the most extreme and difficult data in just a few hours. We regularly use laser scanners to document wall failures, roof collapses, and to certify that massive complex structures are build per the design drawings.

Imagine having to perform a complex as-built survey of something like the Georgian Dome without a laser scan. It would be unthinkable! Likewise, engineering for tank farms and pipe transfer areas are much easier to document with a scanner.

Today, more and more clients are asking for a “laser survey” and then importing the registered point cloud data to begin designing the “fix.” As a result, travel expenses are roughly one third of what they were before.

Architecture
New Greenfield architectural as-builts are required and one day in the not too distant future they will require a laser scan point cloud to document the final conditions.

The real advantage in the 3D world is when you can scan older buildings that are not uniform and not consistent prior to construction and find all of the asymmetrical areas that will give a contractor and owner fits when construction begins.

For many reasons, we are documenting existing conditions in older buildings and in some cases they have very nice architectural features built by real artisans that we are able to capture to give the client a much clearer picture of what is there.

Older buildings have sagging floors, walls with varying thicknesses, and sometimes no interior air-conditioning or duct works. These are all areas where 3D technology is the only way to fly.

MEP Energy and Complex Plumbing
We call these highly complex environments. The original laser scanner was invented to map oil platforms and massively large refineries so that engineers could document and design the required elements correctly.

Unfortunately, there was no other way to do this. Weekly, I talk to clients who make 4-6 trips to jobs to check and recheck hand measured structures. Good news: there is no reason to do this ever again! Using a laser scanner is cheaper, faster and more accurate and once you capture the data, you have it forever. There is no better tool.

In this field, “smart point clouds” have turned from a dream to a reality. There are now programs that can automatically turn a point cloud into a series of pipes. Though it is not perfect yet, it is so much better than what was available in the past. The time it takes to model a pipe room is one third the time it took five years ago.

Most serious pipe designers are requesting laser scans on large projects. The new software models and performs clash detection and can export the data into many mainstream Cad platforms. This is now considered an industry best practice.

Low-tech Solutions
When we began in 2005, high speed laser scanners were our main tool. But unless the renovation was complex, the cost benefit for documenting relatively simple environments like hotels and commercial space was not very high.

For the past year, we have been providing Revit models of existing buildings cheaper and more efficiently than ever before. Previously designers sent interns or fresh college grads in the AEC industry to measure the space, who then took the data back to build a model.

Now we can measure the interior with a handheld laser and when we leave the building, the model is complete. Many projects can be completed in a single day. With a few hours of clean up the next day, the project is finished and out the door.

Our price is generally very competitive compared to the cost of sending designers to measure the space and the advantage is that they are designing and generating revenue. It is a win-win.

I am often asked by designers why they have to change the way they have been designing when it has been successful for decades. The answer is simple: there is a better way to do it.

With the advent of 3D printers, many designs will be printed and go straight from design to printer to the construction site with no human intervention.

The construction industry is changing, as are the designers who shape that industry. We have reached the new benchmark of 3D survey, design, fabrication and testing and there is just no going back.

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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.

The Future of Laser Scanning: 5 predictions for design and construction

In a few weeks, I am speaking at a conference about the future of laser scanning in the design and construction world.

The audience will be members of a top international construction firm that is very progressive in its use of BIM and 3D laser scanning, so it got me thinking about some of the research I have done and observations I’ve made at various 3D laser conferences over the last eight years.

Based on the incredible innovations in our field in the last decade, I have five predictions as to how high definition scanning will change design and construction in the near future:

#1: Rapid and creative increase in the use of the technology. 

When GPS hit the market in 1992, we were early adopters of the technology and found great savings for our workflows as a result. For one, what used to take us two to three weeks of field surveying could now be done in just hours.

While there is still pushback in some sectors of the design industry related to laser scanning, contractors are largely on board. No other single group gets a better return on investment for the dollars spent on laser scanning.

Every major building contractor I know is using the technology in some way. The reason is simple. If something is designed from old plans and doesn’t fit, it is the contractors who will have to pay to make it fit. They live in the world of construction schedules and why is not nearly as important and when and how much!

The use of this technology will only increase in the future. Currently, 3D laser scanning technology is being used to show floor flatness with 3D contours well before the new floor is built. As a result, if there are any critical departures from the plans, they can be fixed for a fraction of the cost of what it would be once the walls are already in place.

BIM models are being compared to the laser scan in real-time so minor changes can be made before they turn into a major – and expensive – problem.

As we go forward, I see a time that scanners will be attached to each floor of a building as it goes up and will robotically scan at appropriate times, allowing the laser point cloud to be compared and clashed every night or even hourly to the BIM model to detect changes between the design and construction.

This technology has already reduced the cost of construction and will go upstream to reduce the cost of project insurance because it lowers risk.

#2: Video vs. Laser Scanning?

Ironically, one of the innovations of 3D laser scanning will be using the laser less and the iPhone more.

For many years, “close” range photography has been able to create accurate as built information. Used by experts who understand the survey control necessary and the techniques required, the results could be better than laser data.

Now there are firms writing software that can produce point clouds using video or multiple pictures of the same object (which is what video really is). With no control, it does not have the same accuracy as lasers, but the cost is significantly less.

There is a debate in the 3D world whether this will replace laser scanning or compliment it. I suspect the latter.

One study I read said that creating point clouds from photography currently was about 98% as accurate as a laser scan on smaller areas. That said, if you measured a room that was 100-feet long with a point cloud based on photography, it could theoretically give you a resulting measurement of only 98-feet long.

Consider this: How many times is 2% good enough? The truth is, many times it is. One of the oldest problems in scanning is how to get above the ceiling tiles to document the utilities above.

Getting a scanner up there is slow and expensive. Removing the tiles is slow, dirty and expensive. But if you could remove a few tiles and snap a few pictures, you could get an accurate inventory of what was there and where it was going that would be extremely helpful.

Much research is being done in this field, but I think in a very few years – depending on the specifications – we will be using cameras as often as lasers.

#3: Intelligent point clouds

This is where much of the research in software is going.

Right now, there are some programs that can model pipe correctly between 70% and 90% of the time. They can also recognize walls and show some, but not all, of the flat surfaces.

While this is a huge step forward, if only 80% are right then you have to check 100% to see which are wrong. You would not want to order a couple of hundred feet of the wrong size pipe and have in onsite only to find that it was the wrong diameter.

In the design world, it has always been our opinion that no data is much better than bad data.  Ironically, the current software does have excellent object libraries, so you can isolate the point cloud of a structural I-beam and ask the software to find the right part and it does a great job. However, though it is a more reliable process, it is a manual process.

I believe this problem will be completely solved in less than two years and the use of point clouds will increase exponentially.

#4: Why create a model at all?

At the risk of creating total confusion, there is a growing group of expert users that ask this very question, why model at all? Their thinking is that when you model, you change the shape of the object scanned and the cleaned point cloud is a better representation of an object.

That being said, with the ability to bring the point cloud into design programs, more professions – especially the high precision users – are designing inside the point cloud and not from a model.

I saw a fascinating presentation by a satellite designer. When another payload was added to the satellite, he would not work off the plans, but instead scan the existing satellite in the next room and use that point cloud for the additional design. Of course, we don’t all have the luxury of having a working copy of the design next door.

The important point here is that for critical design, the point cloud is closer to reality than the model. The other realization is that nothing is ever built exactly as it was designed.

#5: Advanced data capture platforms

This will be one of the biggest changes and most fun to watch.

Currently, we use helicopters, fixed-wing aircraft, automobiles, trucks, off road vehicles, boats, and tripod-based systems to collect data. Though these work well for most uses, many of the projects that need scanning are in dangerous conditions. (Tunnels, large underground pipes, underground mines, failed construction areas, high voltage transformer stations and nuclear power plants.)

All of these areas have one thing in common: they are unsafe.

Enter drones and walking robots. When the nuclear power plant in Fukushima, Japan, failed and melted down, the level of radiation was so high that the workers could spend very little time inside the radiation zone.

The team brought in a small drone that delivered high quality close range aerial photography and was equipped with avoidance technology so it would not fly into a fixed object. The digital information was extremely valuable in assessing the damage and did so safely with little human risk.

I have already seen experimental drones equipped with small scanners that are programmed to scan flat surfaces and recognize open areas like doors. They will go through to continue the scanning in areas that, because of gas or other dangers, would be very difficult for humans to work in. In studying the decaying infrastructure of America for rehabilitation, can you imagine being able to put a drone down the sewer systems of New York City or Atlanta and get high resolution scan data without having to put people in such an environment?

Track mounted robots are being used in the same way. These will definitely be used more and more in the future and will change the way we work.

The future of scanning is immense and the different ways we scan – the data capture vehicles and the software – will continue to evolve and become more customized to the specific industry problems presented. Point cloud data, whether collected with lasers or iPhones, is still the best data that exists for capturing and studying existing conditions.

The future will be exciting to watch and the prize goes to the person or company that can best see beneath dense foliage, behind walls, or under the ground.

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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: The New Industry Standard

When we first started laser scanning back in 2005, we replaced some of our total station surveying equipment with scanning technology. As much as anything, this was a great way for us to learn how to use the technology and understand its capabilities and limitations.

Early on, much of the work we did involved transportation projects and large complicated intersection surveys. There were many immediate benefits. For one, our surveyors were no longer put out into traffic and in harm’s way.

Another benefit was that we didn’t have to drive across town or across the state just to check on a few ambiguous points in a survey. Instead, we could just go back and look at the point cloud.

Today, in 2012, the entire world of architectural and engineering design and construction has changed. While before we had to convince clients of the benefits of using laser surveys, we now have a growing client base that simply will not consider starting a project without one.

In addition to providing accurate spatial information to civil engineers, plant designers, architects, contractors – and even insurance companies and crime scene investigators – laser scanning saves both time and money.

The truth is that in very complicated environments – like a mechanical heating and air conditioning plant room or a baggage room in an airport – the cost of scanning is nominal when compared to the total cost of the project.

Here are four primary reasons 3D laser surveys, or high-definition scanning, is quickly becoming the new industry standard when it comes to making precise measurements in complicated environments:

Reason #1: Scanner Speed

The speed of scanning has changed dramatically compared to what it was just seven years ago.

The first scanner we purchased (and still use today) took one hour for a 360-degree spherical orbit. Today, with our current scanners, it takes just six minutes.  This speed enables us to take many more scan set-ups than we used to take.

With our phase-based high speed scanner, we can now get 40 to 60 scans per day, which is very adequate to cover a large two-story mechanical room. To get the same amount of scans seven years ago would have taken a week.

In areas like these, it is the detail we look for, not the range. In extremely complicated areas, we make a set of scans on all sides. This data is invaluable to designers because it allows them to avoid interferences that often occur in these types of areas.

Reason #2: Software Improvements

Improved software programming has also contributed to the widespread acceptance of scanning technology.

I remember talking to clients back in 2005 and our message was something like this, “We will scan for you, then give you a 2D deliverable set of drawings that you can use to design your project.” When they would ask if they could use the point cloud in their design, our answer was always the same: “Yes, but you will have to buy $10,000 worth of software.”

As you can probably imagine, this was not an easy sell.

Fortunately, today Bentley, AutoCAD and Revit all have point cloud engines in them. The difference between an engine and a viewer is that we can now load a point cloud into an “engine” for a client and they can use the data in the design without having to purchase expensive “point cloud” software.

In fact, one of the takeaways from a scanning conference I recently attended was that all of the major software providers are moving to full 3D software design systems. They finally understand what we have known for years. Why would you survey in 3D, flatten the data to 2D, design in 2D then build in 3D? It just doesn’t make sense.

Reason #3: Clash Detection

This alone is worth the cost of a 3D laser survey.

Consider that if a project is modeled in the design phase, the completed final design – including the MEP systems, air handling systems, structural system and all of the architectural design – can be placed within the point cloud and clash detected. Anything that interferes with another system can be seen immediately and corrected before construction.

This is huge! What prudent engineer, designer or contractor would not want this advantage?  How important would this be to an owner?

Reason #4: TrueView or 360-Degree Spherical Photography

This technology has also improved quite a bit in the last seven years. When we first started scanning, we were fascinated with the fact that scanners could take photographs of the surrounding area, and then take that photographic data and overlay it with the scan data to make general measurements to the environment.

Unfortunately, back then the on-board camera was not as good as we had hoped and sometimes the pictures would come out octagonal and disjointed. As the process became more refined, we were able to mount a high resolution camera on the scanner and produce a crystal clear, color spherical photograph of the site.

This is a big step because it allows you to view a site from any scan set up. You can add text and information to the photographs and then e-mail a specific view to a client across the country or across the world. (In this case, some of our clients pay for our scanning fees with their savings in plane tickets!) This tool also enables clients to look out from the center of every scan and saves lots of time and discussion as to what is or is not located in the area of interest.

High definition scanning has quickly evolved from an emerging technology to an industry best practice when it comes to complicated projects. The construction process always includes many unknowns and the chance of design and construction errors is always high.

Why put yourself in the position of having to explain how a construction project was slowed down or over-budget because a laser scan was not the foundation of the project?

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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,  tjones@3DLaserSurveys.com or visit www.3DLaserSurveys.com.