I just did a little on line research to see if things had changed at all, but from what I can see Revit is still not very point cloud friendly. What makes this so difficult to understand is the fact that Revit has become the de facto standard for BIM, and with so much interest in the link between laser scanning and BIM one would think this is fertile ground for product development.

From what I can find it seems that you can import point clouds via DXF or IFC’s, but only in very small quantities or slices, and that people are using multiple software packages to perform each required task. It’s almost “laughable” when you think about it, considering the lost opportunity.

When I spoke with the Revit product managers 18 to 24 months ago about their plans for supporting point clouds the answer was that customers were not requesting it, so it was not a priority. Hopefully there is a secret project underway to change all  of this. The annual Autodesk product releases are due any time. Let’s see if support for point clouds has made the list of new Revit features.

What if we could start over, with all of the technology that we have today – the PC, Internet, laser scanners, BIM, GPS, machine control – all of it? What if we had the luxury of creating the next generation of software and hardware, with the prior commitment of the major stakeholders of the AEC industry to support it, and without the legacy of what we have invested in today? What if the technology was like it is in the music or telecommunications industry?

What I am thinking about is a unified, holistic 3D system that supports the entire built environment project lifecycle in a sustainable, energy efficient manner.  Are the components all there today, but they just lack the systems integration? I believe that most of them are, but I think we would be further ahead if we started over with a common, standards-based system architecture that had the power of a mandate.

If that were to somehow happen, I have to believe that laser scanning would be one of the core technologies. The new ASTM E57 data interoperability standard, along with the work being done by the buildingSmartalliance on a National BIM standard could be key elements in the new architecture.

A highly trusted computer programmer friend of mine tells me that he could create the equivalent of AutoCAD 11 with Flex in a very short amount of time. What if we put a couple hundred smart people to work on it?

Maybe the concept is not that crazy after all.

As Brent pointed out the physics of the two technologies is completely different. My apologies if I mislead anyone. I guess my thought was that both methods were similar in that they were attempting to capture a  region, rather than individual points, but I was still essentially wrong in comparing the two.

Thanks for keeping me honest Brent.

This video documents the digital workflow. Now if we could only have this kind of control in the AEC industry.

Click here to view the embedded video.

There is an interesting debate taking place on the popular, UK-based Laser Scanning Forum concerning whether a full 3D model of an oil refinery has actually ever been created. This came up as part of a request for a standard specification of best scanning practices specific to the oil and gas industry. The person requesting this noted that there is such a standard specification for heritage projects in the UK. That does not seem to be the case for the oil and gas industry.

One of the respondents noted that he had created an intelligent 3D model with over 4,000 pipes and 1000 connecting elements, which he felt demonstrated that it was certainly possible to create a complete model. Of course in most cases it comes down to what the client is willing to pay for.

For some time now I have been thinking about starting a forum. I would like to get some feedback on this idea, so if you have an opinion, please let me know, and thanks for your continuing support.

Author Jimmy Drago points out in this article that structured light laser scanners are the preferred hardware for scanning a fine surface at a great depth. The skin care industry being an example of where these scanners provide the optimal solution.

A structured light scanner produces a pattern of lines, usually stripes, which are projected onto the subject. A camera is then used to record the deformation of each point of light in the pattern. Then, using a technique similar to triangulation, the surface in question can be derived.

The primary advantage of structured light scanners is speed of data capture, since they are recording multiple points at the same time. This reduces or eliminates distortion from scanner motion. Some systems are capable of scanning moving objects in real time.

In this article they report that the use of laser scanning  resulted in a cost savings of $5,000 to $7,000 as compared to manual survey methods, as well as much greater accuracy and detail. This resulted in minimal downtime as the new equipment was installed without any problems.

This project is an excellent example of how laser scanning can be used at the local level.

I recently mentioned the Trimble Indoor Mobile Mapping Solution, or TIMMS. I just spoke to Stu Rich, CTO at PenBay Solutions about their decision to integrate TIMMS with their “indoor GIS services”. They actually collaborated with Trimble to demonstrate the system on an underground application for the City of Philadelphia. As an aside, I know of another innovative application that has been well received in Philly. They are early adopters.

The feature that has caught my attention about TIMMS is it’s ability to work in real world coordinates. Stu explained that you can either initialize the system using GPS, which of course means in most cases that you must have line of sight to the satellites, or you can record indoor target locations that have real world coordinates.

I tried to learn more about the underlying technology, but it does not appear that Trimble is making this public. In any case, I have to agree with Stu that capturing 3D coordinates on the platform opens up a whole new set of opportunities particularly in the public safety arena.