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Surveying
POINT CLOUD SURVEY
Light Detection and Ranging (RIDA), more commonly known as 3D laser scanning, is a non-contact technology that allows the shape of physical objects to be digitally captured using a line of laser light forming ‘point clouds’ of data from the surface of an object.
The technology has its origins in airbourne submarine detection but applications for architecture and construction are becoming more popular.
Where Point Clouds Have Always Let Down Surveyors
Point clouds have always been hamstrung by slow processing and an often manually intensive ‘registration’ procedure. The transformational capability of the technology has meant that point cloud surveys have still been used despite these deficiencies. However, their use has often been limited to the largest construction projects and specific circumstances where it delivers a massive return on investment through high commissioning costs.
Traditionally, this alignment has depended on artificial targets that are placed throughout the scan field in areas of overlap. The capability to align point clouds using natural features has existed for years. But, targets have remained the dominant means of registering scans because of inefficiency in processing software. You pay for time saved in the field with time spent in the office.
For example, using traditional software to align 130 scans using targetless registration can take up to 28 hours. This would be fine, but conventional software also requires manual processes (setting scan parameters, cross-check data, etc.) throughout the procedure. Turning that 28 hours into more than three days of constant work.