Sundt uses a Faro Focus 3D X130 laser scanner that can capture almost a million points per second with sub-sixteenth inch accuracy up to 400 feet. Complete and accurate laser scans provide numerous benefits like cost savings, reduced errors and schedule improvements. Laser scanning allows for photorealistic point clouds that capture spatial data without gaps unlike traditional surveying. Point clouds from multiple scans can be stitched together with typical deviations under a quarter inch. Laser scanning 20,000 square feet per day is not uncommon, with an additional day needed to process scans for design and construction teams. Utilizing laser scans provides clear virtual scenes for remote design and reduces site visits.

1. Laser Scanning at Sundt
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Laser scanning in the AEC industry has been trying to make its mark for about 5 years, and in the
past year technological advances have led to the AEC industry embracing a workflow that includes laser
scans. Sundt uses a Faro Focus 3D X130 which has a capture rate of almost a million points per second
and with uncertainties less than a sixteenth of an inch within a four hundred foot range. Complete and
accurate dimensional documentation has numerous benefits to the owner and construction team.
Capturing the project with a laser scan can have numerous advantage from providing cost savings,
schedule and error reduction, to improved design.
The high resolution, completeness and
accuracy of 3D scan data supports workflows that
traditional survey cannot. Traditional survey jumps
from point to point leaving gaps verses a laser
scanned project that can produce photorealistic
images with spatial information. Point clouds are the
end product of laser scanning a project. They are a
composition of individual laser scans which are
stitched together to create one unified point cloud. An
individual laser scan can be accurate to a 1/64” and
once combined into a point cloud the deviation of
scans are typically within a ¼”. Depending on the
complexity of a project it is not uncommon to scan
20,000 square feet in a day. For every day in the field, there is a day of processing the data so it is
useable by the design and construction team. This
can further be developed into a 3D model that
reduced the data size and provides drawing that
can be linked into working models.
The advantages to utilizing a laser
scanner on project outweigh any perceived costs.
Analysis and measurement is done in “virtual
scenes” from which detailed and dimensionally
precise models are created. Point clouds reduces
site visits and provides a clear picture for remote
designers, allow decision to make quickly and
accurately. Utilizing laser scans into a product has
benefits that reach throughout the life cycle of a building.
CSU Channel Islands Point Cloud – Each color is a
different scan location.
CSU Channel Islands Point Cloud – Interior Shot of 1930s
Concrete Structure