Laser scanning or photogrammetry? On most projects the answer is often both. When a high level of detail is not required, taking photos is typically much faster and more cost effective, but when you need greater accuracy, the laser scanner is often going to be the right tool for the collection of 3D data. The challenge occurs when you need more geographic coverage than there is time to scan, or there is a need to share the data with a larger group of distributed stakeholders than point clouds readily allows, or there is more precision required than traditional photogrammetric reconstruction alone can offer.
Wouldn’t it be nice if there was a software environment that could manage both while at the same time reducing the issues surrounding file sizes?
Well now there is. By combining laser scanning and photogrammetry, Bentley Systems’ ContextCapture provides a new hybrid 3D data processing environment that enables you to input any combination of photos and terrestrial laser scanned data (soon to support aerial laser scanning). The technique allows you to produce high accuracy reality meshes which are ideal for downstream use in virtually any engineering analysis and/or design workflow since they are much easier to manage in terms of file sizes and storage and because they are more visually interpretable.
To explain all of this Bentley Systems is offering an important webinar on December 15 at 1 PM EST where you will learn how this breakthrough innovation allows you to leverage the best available imagery in order to produce highly precise models and cost-effectively capture much larger areas to provide both breadth and depth of 3D contextual models of the real world.
In the webinar you will learn how laser scanning professionals can benefit from the use of ContextCapture and how professionals using UAVs and other aerial as well as on the ground photography can increase the required precision of photogrammetric 3D reconstruction in specific areas by incorporating point cloud data.
For more information and to register click here.
