Education Markets Technology

BIM and Laser Scanning

  1. Quick notes – there is a mobile mapping LinkedIn group forming and it was recommended that ASPRS offer the LiDAR certification.
  2. Laser scanning is being incorrectly associated with developing a building information model.
  3. Owners need to understand the limitations of the technology.

I have had a couple of interesting conversations recently with some very experienced people about the hype associated with BIM and laser scanning. But first a couple of quick items. The first is there is now a mobile mapping group being formed on LinkedIn. The second is a heads up to read the comments on the certification post. One recommendation is for ASPRS to take this on. That seems to work for the mapping segment – not sure if it is broad enough to cover the full range of applications.

BIM is one of the most hyped concepts in the AEC world. It seems that building owners are somehow under the impression that by laser scanning their structure that somehow a building information model will automatically appear. It’s difficult to understand how this kind of misinformation gets rolling, but it can be difficult to stop, and costly to re-educate potential customers. Those who might be selling this hype are doing the industry a dis-service and making it more difficult to sell the true value of laser scanning.

Developing a detailed BIM for an existing building is a monumental task. Laser scanning can provide valuable 3D spatial and visual information to that process, but the supporting database of required information is not going to magically be generated from a point cloud.

2 Comments

  • From first hand experience this hype is true – I sold terrestrial laser scanners to AEC firms and at least 50% of them had this preconceived notion that the scanner device would magically create a 3d model. It amazed me that highly educated industry professionals had this misconception. I guess for a burgeoning industry such as laser scanning we need to do a better job of managing our potential customer expectations because what these tools can accomplish is simply remarkable.

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.