HDGA offers various scanning and imaging services some truly incredible capabilities with regard to often prove incredibly traditional survey and industrial measurement services. 3D scanning allows us to model virtually anything…ceilings, piping racks, highways, buildings, bridges and ships. We can do this without directly accessing measurement points while providing comprehensive data for site measurement, as-builting and 3D modeling.
Scan data is immediately useful. It is visual and intuitive. The raw scan data looks like a black and white photograph but is actually 3D geometric data that can be dimensioned and used to prepare CAD drawings and models. Clients can view the raw scan data directly on their desktops and take basic dimensions.
Benefits
3D laser scanning is quick and provides a level of detail that far exceeds conventional surveying. Scanning is completed quickly, reducing impacts to other site activities. It can be completed in the dark, when temperatures are more constant and other site activities are at a minimum.
Scanning can collect data in difficult or dangerous sites. Safety is enhanced…site impacts are minimized…and the nearly impossible becomes possible with 3D laser scanning.
The data HDGA captures is dense and detailed, providing information about the shape and irregularities of every visible surface. It constitutes a geometrically reliable and visual inventory.
Complex shapes can be dimensioned, modeled or cross-sectioned.
The data has long-term value. Project teams and owners can revisit or ‘mine’ the data at any time without returning to the site or object which was scanned.
Data and Deliverables
HDGA’s 3D scanning services offer clients an amazing range of data options. Because all data can be geo-referenced, we can use conventional or GPS surveying control to tie the scan data to a known coordinate system such as a plant grid system or geographical/geodetic control. Data can also be tied to a site or local coordinate system. For example, data from different floors of a building can be tied to a building exterior, or different perspectives of a freeway interchange can be tied to the state plane system. We can provide drawings, dimensions, analysis and renderings to depict true site conditions.
We work strategically with clients to establish project tolerances, define appropriate geometry of a component or structure, and outline both immediate and long-term objectives.
Construction
When scanning is performed during construction, very detailed and timely data is captured. The speed of data capture means that construction progress is not impacted. For example, as-builts document construction to support future work on-site by showing the location of conduits and rebar. For excavation, shotcreting, grading or rock stockpiles, 3D laser scanning allows detailed and very accurate quantity calculations.
Civil
Scanning provides data that engineers and planners need for civil project evaluation and design. It offers several advantages. The remote data collection minimizes safety issues and impacts to traffic. In addition, scan data is far more detailed than conventional survey data. The data can be used to generate either 2D or 3D CAD drawings and because it is so visual, it supports public involvement program exhibits, and can be revisited to validate design and construction assumptions throughout the life of the project.
Mechanical Piping
Complex mechanical systems are ideal candidates for 3D laser scanning because conventional measurements are difficult to make and depict. By modeling the scan data, file size is decreased and the data is easier to interpret, especially when color is used to segregate pipe runs. Alternatively, dimensions can be taken in the raw data for pipe dimensions, connection points, and flange detail.
Architecture/Historical Preservation Projects
For remodeling, expansion, and historic preservation projects scanning provides data about existing conditions to support analysis, design, and even prefabrication. The data provides visual and geometrically reliable information about every aspect of the building and allows architects, engineers, and contractors to “revisit the site” from their desks whenever the need arises.
Marine Projects
From fishing vessels to NOAA research ships, scanning captures data for complex hull shapes or entire vessels, enhancing options for design and prefabrication. The result has proven value to clients for cost and time savings.