Tag Archives: lidar
25 Tips for BIM
Expert Recommendations for Better As-built BIMs Creating as-built building information models (BIMs) has been greatly facilitated by the introduction of 3D laser scanners and modeling software, but the process still has its challenges. Four experts were asked to put their decades of combined scanning and modeling experience into this list of the best tips, tactics,...
Power Scanning
An electric utility in South Africa uses mobile lidar to manage costs and improve information flow. Founded in 1923 and based in South Africa, Eskom is a large company that generates, transmits, and distributes electricity; their customers are factories, mines, businesses, farms, individuals, and even other electricity providers. In fact, Eskom provides 95% of the...
Lidar for Forestry
Above: Lidar-derived tree crowns and maximum tree-top heights are overlaid on a 20cm orthophoto. Vector-based products allow for a transition from the point cloud to GIS. A forester’s guide to understanding lidar topics, from upfront data-acquisition costs to business benefits to the path from research to operationalization. Although many lidar industry insiders never imagined the...
Mapping the USS Arizona
A unique pro bono collaboration creates the first-ever integration of multiple technologies for mapping a historic monument. The battleship USS Arizona was bombed during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. The ship exploded and sank, killing 1,177 officers and crew. It now lies at the bottom of the harbor. In 1961, Elvis Presley...
SGM
Obtaining economical and accurate point clouds from semi-global matching. In the old days, mappers were thrilled with 30 meter USGS digital elevation models (DEMs). These were available for almost everywhere in the United States. Years later they started producing 10m DEMs, and life was really good. We had one elevation point “on the ground” every...
3D GIS
Breaking the Wall between Consumer and Professional, the Appearance of Disappearance, Versioning An Interview with Lawrie Jordon Contrary to what the current buzz might indicate, GIS and CAD have been 3D-rich from their start (although sometimes with elevation as an attribute, not necessarily part of the core spatial definition). Even in the 1990s era of...
