The Latest 3D Measurement Technology

Written by: Langley Willauer

The SPAR Conference is all about 3D measurement technology, so when the annual show came to Colorado Springs last week, Ubisense was there scouring for technologies that would help our customers.

Applications included architectural preservation, inside-building models for SWAT teams, crime scene investigation tools; all manner and form of data collection for engineering and design projects.

First, scanners. Since being invented years ago, the technology has diversified and expanded. Indoor and outdoor scanners were on display with various accuracies and ranges. There was a lot of buzz about the scanner mounted in a prototype phone as part of Google’s Project Tango. And there were scanners that clipped onto iPads which created little mapping machines.

And what do get from a scanner? Well, a point cloud. Cool sounding, trendy even, but not very useful in and of itself. So there were software and service providers on the floor too, companies who, with varying degrees of automation, could turn a point cloud into a 3D model that an engineer would recognize.

For example, a Company called New Spin was doing prototype work with one of our customers, American Electric Power. They were placing their scanner at various locations inside a substation, a process that eventually led to a functioning 3D model where engineers could safely take accurate measurements and try “what if” scenarios with their designs in the existing model.

But scanners aren’t cameras. So every deployed scanner seems to also have a companion camera for capturing the image that can be “draped” over the scan. Those iPad scanners appeared to be able to do this on the fly, going from waving the thing around to a working, full-color 3D model of the 10 feet around you in a few seconds. Very compelling technology, to be sure.

Handheld scanners that clip onto iPads are the latest thing

Where does this all fit in? Some utility customers are already employing scanning companies to map poles, wires, and roads. Helicopter-based scanners have been flown in transmission-line corridors for years, mapping tree clearances. For our manufacturing customers, this technology could map indoor spaces quickly and speed up deployment of location-based technologies. For our natural gas customers, a gas leak investigation is similar to a crime scene investigation, so why not adapt this technology for field workers; and certainly exposed pipe deserves to be mapped as closely as possible before it’s covered up again.

Watch this space!