It’s a common meme in 3D imaging: architects don’t like working with point clouds. But that trope is beginning to look more and more outdated. Today, James Austin, senior architect and BIM coordinator at SPACE Group, blogs about seeing the point cloud light and I’m guessing his experience is being had throughout the profession.
When I first got into scanning, I wrote a blog about the application of the data. Back then I struggled to see how the point cloud could be integrated and used, but much has changed in a year.
Sometimes, those of us who get excited about technology outpace that technology’s practicality, and it can work against the very technology we’re so excited about. We show it to people, they say, “that’s cool,” then try to actually use it to make their jobs easier, fail, and become frustrated.
“Yeah, I tried integrating point clouds into my workflow. Didn’t work. I wouldn’t recommend it.”
Luckily, there are plenty of folks who are willing to give technology another shot:
Laser scanning is one of those opportunities that we have been watching for some time now, and it’s encouraging to see it develop into a viable and achievable part of our processes.
Please do got and read all of James’ post. It’s a realization I think will be duplicated any number of times over the course of the next two or three years. For those of us who believe 3D imaging technologies can be a boon to AEC firms and the entire design-build process, the question is: How can we speed up that awakening process?
(Well, of course, get more architects to come to SPAR! Duh!)
