Surveying building structures and then sharing the extrapolated data was traditionally a highly cumbersome task, requiring either measuring tape or early stage technologies (electronic fingerprinting) that made use of inflexible and bulky equipment. Also, plenty of man hours were needed to record thousands of measurements. This was valuable work, but by no means efficient or enjoyable.
Incremental improvements and the use of robotic measurement and GPS-based technology eventually moved the industry along, yet still required complex systems with attendant limitations, only reaching the places where the GPS signals could.
GeoSLAM reduces the pain: The difficult manual processes are eliminated using GeoSLAM’s ZEB-REVO lightweight revolving laser-scanner which is either handheld, pole-mounted, or attached onto a mobile platform. The ZEB-REVO uses Simultaneous Localization And Mapping (SLAM) technology. The operator ofthe portable device simply places it in hand, and does a steady walk throughout any structure, often a building, but even the inside of a cave. An intelligent algorithm is doing the thinking, and the output is highly useable and provides detailed measurements. The end result is that a map is created from the data, known as a point cloud.
Using SLAM technology has three crucial benefits:
- Less time
- Lower costs
- Flexiblity, No need for specialized technicians
Usually a single person can accomplish the measurement and not even break a sweat. But the most tangible benefit of the handheld GeoSLAM-based 3D mapping technology for the building market is sheer speed, as the latest product is 15x faster than traditional methods. GeoSLAM’s Zeb-Revo can rapidly scan rooms and structures — think an entire building in less than a day. GeoSLAM’s ZEB-REVO technology does not require a GPS signal — thus can scan any enclosure— and requires one moderately trained person to use. Best yet, all the data is assembled into a “Point cloud” rendering and the data is automatically shared over the cloud, making it compatible with BIM platforms for eased collaboration among teams.
Would you like to learn more about GeoSLAM technology in the building market? Please visit www.geoslam.com.
