As part of the research for tomorrow’s ASCE Workshop on LiDAR to Machine – intersecting laser scanning with machine control I came across this Federal Highways Administration FHWA Every Day Counts initiative page on the benefits of three-dimensional modeling. It is very encouraging to see the FHWA taking a leadership role in advancing the use of 3D as the DOTs look to them for guidance, plus they hold the purse strings.
This is great news for the mobile LiDAR and laser scanning industry in general. It may not be a mandate, but it is pretty close. On the surface machine control or automated machine guidance for highway and site construction may not seem like something that our industry should care about, but these two technologies are directly related and converging as we move to 3D workflows.
