How can integrated workflows give surveyors, construction workers, architects and miners a leg up?

Contributed by Luka Pušnik, 3Dsurvey 

As competition in the land surveying, construction, architecture, and mining industries grows, companies must find ways to differentiate themselves to survive and thrive. The challenges that companies face in these industries include spending too much time in the field, increased costs, accuracy issues, the ability to share results, while needing to factor in support, time to market, adding value, and customer satisfaction.

To overcome these challenges, companies can utilize appropriate technologies such as the 3Dsurvey software. 3Dsurvey offers state-of-the-art features in a tightly integrated all-in-one solution to provide benefits to the most challenging areas. 

Photogrammetry has become a proven concept in the fields of land surveying, construction, architecture and mining. 3Dsurvey allows users to turn any consumer drone photos, any camera photos or even photos from mobile phone cameras, into valuable outputs. The software can be used for photogrammetry and provides outputs that include orthophotos, digital elevation models, point clouds, volume calculations, contour lines and more.

Stand-Out Features

3Dsurvey has several unique and integrated features that can offer industries a competitive advantage. Because the software is carefully designed and includes state-of-the art features, 3Dsurvey can provide a tightly integrated all-in-one solution with the best possible workflow designed for professionals on the field. With their responsive professional support, 3Dsurvey is an ideal tool for achieving success in these industries.

Example of complete 3Dsurvey workflow from field to office

X-ray

Measuring building corners using traditional approaches is a time-consuming and tedious process, and extracting building corners from point clouds proved tedious as well. Because of this, we designed our X-ray algorithm. With just the press of a button, 3Dsurvey can convert a point cloud into a 2D orthographic image where walls and similar vertical features are made to stand out.

We then drape the X-ray image on a digital terrain model and vectorize the building outline. Because the X-ray is draped on the digital terrain model, the 3D outline will automatically have the right terrain elevation.

Turn your 3D model into a accurate floor plan with 3Dsurvey x-ray vertical points detector

 Videogrammetry

We are not limited to drone photos as inputs - 3Dsurvey works with any camera. Recently, mobile phone cameras have proven especially useful on the job site. 3Dsurvey has also developed a new videogrammerty approach is proving especially easy to use. After capturing a short video, the algorithm implemented in 3Dsurvey can automatically extract the most appropriate frames from the video, providing ideal overlap between shots. These shots are then used to convert the video into a 3D model.

Create an accurate 3D model with a simple mobile phone video - record in a matter of minutes with no effort.

Multi point cloud editing

3Dsurvey is one of few solutions that is not limited to having one 3D model in your project. In 3Dsurvey we can, for example, load data (3D surfaces, point clouds, CAD) recorded at different points in time. For example, a user could load a scan taken at the start of the building process and compare to one taken at the end, using the software to calculate volume differences. Similarly, 3Dsurvey can load data used to define a design surface (for example, a design model of excavation for a construction project), creating a 3D model of current terrain and comparing it to the design surface. 

 Running an unlimited number of point clouds at the same time will enable you to manage the project during its lifecycle and track the changes.

Integrated CAD engine

With the integrated CAD engine, 3Dsurvey is capable of creating final vectorized maps and exporting the CAD data in DXF format. Users can create or import predefined layers, and print CAD in PDF format.

With an integrated, easy-to-use CAD module, professionals can complete their projects on a single platform without switching between different software platforms. 

 CAD drawing on images

Sometimes it’s really difficult to extract some specific detail from the point cloud or mesh accurately. Building corners, roof ridges or road curbs are just some of those examples. Now we can select the exact position of the CAD vertices on the images to triangulate their most precise positions. Using this function, no additional terrestrial measurements are needed. This feature can make it possible to create a 100% precise model with photogrammetry, speeding up your work process.

Easy to use, fast and extremely accurate way of defining points and lines on 3D models with help of source images and magnifiers.

Contour line generation

Producing accurate and detailed contour lines for large-scale areas has never been easier or faster. Simply create a digital terrain model, define the contour line interval, and extract contours from it. You take over control of which or how big an area to map and measure it efficiently.

Pick a specific area and define the density you need to create contour lines to your liking.

Cloud sharing

The 3Dsurvey cloud viewer is a convenient way to share highly detailed 3D data. With 3Dsurvey, users create detailed 3D models and point clouds, but it is important to ensure that customers and stakeholders can open the resulting files in their own settings. With that in mind, we developed our cloud viewer platform. With the cloud viewer, users can upload a project into the 3Dsurvey cloud, then create a shareable link to share with clients. The customer will not need a big and powerful computer or expensive software to view the project – it can be viewed from any computer. 3Dsurvey viewer also includes tools for visualizing the data, making 3D measurements and comparing different surveys on a timeline.

Preview of a 3Dsurvey Cloud Viewer interface (available in the second half of 2023)

All-in-one software

With an integrated CAD engine, volume calculations and other previously described features 3Dsurvey will get you to your final results in far fewer steps. There is no need to export data into third-party software in order to produce a survey map or volume calculation. All the described functions are included with the regular 3Dsurvey license, no additional purchases are required. 

Conclusion

By utilizing the 3Dsurvey software, companies in the land surveying, construction, architecture, and mining industries can overcome the challenges they face, differentiate themselves from their competition, and add additional value for their clients. The software saves time, increases accuracy, offers better support, and improves customer satisfaction. Companies can also introduce new services, reports, and acquire new clients, thus increasing their bottom line.

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