In the construction industry, you're more likely to save money and time when you have more information about your jobsite. Modern technologies like light detection and ranging (LiDAR) and building information modeling (BIM) platforms enable you to get a good view of your project before beginning, which can help you better plan your work and required supplies.
Understanding how to follow the best scanning practices is essential for getting the most out of your technology investment. Learn everything you need to know about how to run laser scans on your jobsite for the most accurate results.
How to Prepare Your Construction Site for Laser Scanning
Before anything else, you need to ensure your jobsite is clear and ready for scanning to avoid interference and improve scan accuracy. Here's a quick overview of how to plan laser scanning for building renovations or new construction:
Assess the Jobsite
Performing a comprehensive jobsite evaluation helps identify key points for scanning and informs your overall plan. It's also essential for finding and eliminating obstacles, such as potential environmental challenges:
- Areas with restricted access
- Target object complexity and size
- Environmental factors such as dust or poor lighting
- Building occupancy
- Traversing floors or levels
This information will help you create an efficient scanning plan and ensure you have all the required tools, equipment and personnel to proceed.
Place Targets and Control Points
Targets and control points are important for establishing scan alignment. These points serve as boundaries for the scan and can include a wide variety of fixed or arranged elements on the jobsite:
- Checkerboard targets
- Spherical targets
- Survey nails
- Specialized survey targets
- Paint or tape markers
Coordinate Scanning Plan
Once everything is placed, accounted for and calibrated, you're almost ready to begin your scan. First, you must plan how you will approach the scanning process.
Consider the scope and intended use of your scan data — which details do you need to capture and why? Understanding how the data will be used can help you determine the best goal for your project.
For example, do you simply need raw point cloud data, or will you need to convert it to a 3D BIM model? How does this deliverable connect to the other tasks in your project? Answering these questions can help you map out your scan before you begin.
On-Site Best Practices for Laser Scanning
The following tips can help you ensure high accuracy and minimize errors in your scans.
1. Follow Scanner Positioning Procedures
Make sure to use a stable tripod at each location when positioning the scanner to ensure a level shot. Visually inspecting your equipment before taking a scan is also key to preventing any uneven scans — check that the scanner is level and in proper alignment.
2. Fine-Tune Scan Settings
Before you begin scanning, it's important to ensure your scanner is set up to capture what you need. Calibration verifies the accuracy of your scanner, but adjusting the device's settings can help you make sure you get the necessary data in your shot.
Key settings to adjust include:
- Scan density
- Image capture settings
- Speed
- Lighting
- Object distance
These settings will impact how the scanner captures information and reacts to certain environmental conditions, so it's vital to take care in this step.
3. Capture More Scans Than You Think You Need
While laser scanning is highly accurate, it's still important to take precautions that ensure you end up with a usable finished product. Scanning is similar to photography in that having more angles gives you better options in case your first shot didn't turn out well.
Taking more shots may feel like you're taking more time than you need to, but it can save you valuable time later when you're loading your scan data into your BIM platform.
The Benefits of Laser Scanning for Quality Control in Construction
Using certain technologies and techniques can help you reduce construction errors with laser scanning in several different ways:
- Improving collaboration: 3D point cloud data is easy to integrate with your BIM or CAD software, enabling you to create an accurate, shareable model all project stakeholders can work from. This common model helps reduce the risk of confusion, which can save time later in the process when disparate data puts everyone's work on hold.
- Enhancing safety: Laser scanning reduces the need for human surveyors to enter potentially dangerous areas, making it easier to obtain accurate, detailed site data without putting your people at risk.
- Increased accuracy: Laser scanning technology captures millions of data points in one scan, which creates a high-precision 3D BIM that is true to scale. In contrast, human measurements are more likely to be inaccurate, requiring unnecessary rework.
Data Management and Quality Assurance Tips
Bad data accounted for approximately 14% of all rework in the construction industry in 2020, equating to more than $88 billion in avoidable costs. Taking care to practice good data management and quality assurance can help you avoid unnecessary costs by eliminating bad data that may have found its way into your system.
Proper organization and data management are vital for resolving data issues in your project. Some key data management practices to incorporate into your everyday operations include:
- Defining clear data objectives to prevent overcorrection.
- Cataloging both data and metadata according to one universal standard.
- Encouraging data-driven decision-making across your organization.
- Automating data life cycle and retention policies.
- Selecting the best data architecture for your company's needs.
It can also help to use a platform powered by artificial intelligence (AI) to identify abnormalities your human team may have missed. AI can often notice patterns that aren't immediately clear to an inexperienced eye, which can potentially save your organization a significant amount of time and resources that could have been used in rework.
Improve Project Efficiency Using Laser Scanners on Your Jobsite
Whether you're in construction, demolition or renovations, investing in a high-quality laser scanning system is one of the best ways to minimize risk on your jobsite. We offer a wide range of solutions for companies like yours to enhance measuring and site preparation processes.
As a Trimble authorized partner for construction companies throughout the Southeastern U.S., BuildingPoint SouthEast is committed to delivering cutting-edge technologies to our customer base. We back our laser scanning solutions with best-in-class support and service from our expert team, which helps our customers maximize return on investment and minimize errors on the jobsite.
Reduce construction errors with laser scanning technology you can rely on. Contact us to request a free quote.