AEC firm pb2 is scanning more and more every month, thanks to the versatility of the NavVis VLX mobile mapping system.
From a NavVis blog by Melanie Schoebel.
Today, professionals working across the whole building lifecycle have adopted lidar to innovate their processes, find new efficiencies, and sharpen their competitive edge.
pb2 is a mid-sized architecture and engineering firm based in Northwest Arkansas. The company works closely with the largest retailers and convenience stores in the United States, specializing in new construction, renovation, and re-purpose/re-use projects. They perform a variety of services in house, such as as-built capture through the architectural and engineering design process and final documents for construction.
pb2 is consistent with demands of the AEC industry and retail clients specifically. They must work very quickly to meet their clients’ expectations and make the most of all available resources to get it done. That is why they turned to NavVis VLX.
Historical methods
“pb2 has long used a combination of manual measurement tools and 360° photography to produce as-builts”, explains Doug Hurley, President. These data sets formed the basis for most of their work for a specific project building, whether that meant designing an addition or re-purposing the facility for new commercial use.
Though the company found these methods reliable, they also saw that manual processes depleted their resources. Producing an as-built for a single 200,000 sq foot retail store meant sending an architect and up to three engineers into the field for two days or more.
pb2 was also grappling with the other challenges that come with manual measurement and 360° images. For example, accuracy is limited by the ability and attention of the user. And manual measurement doesn’t capture every dimension, which means that sometimes a project team was forced to reverify the scope of work and potentially revisit a site to capture the necessary measurements.
Doug Hurley says pb2 knew it needed to make a big change and do it quickly.
“We still use manual measurements and 360° data,” adds Josh Steinert, Senior Manager Graphics & Technology “But we work to continuously adapt our data capture procedures for efficiency. With recent advances in AEC technology, it was increasingly necessary to use new tools that would allow us to virtually ‘revisit’ a site at any time after the initial survey, acquire dimensions, view angles, and ascertain data that cannot be captured manually.”
For the complete article on AEC firm pb2 CLICK HERE.
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