Lidar Point Cloud Segmentation

A Novel Framework for Processing Terrestrial Lidar Data

Terrestrial Lidar data has great potential to produce measurements for as-built building information modelling (BIM). Unfortunately, processing hundreds of millions of points, often contaminated by substantial noise, can be tedious and time-consuming. Normal variation analysis (Norvana) segmentation is an automatic method that can segment large terrestrial Lidar point clouds containing hundreds of millions of points within minutes. Thanks to the high speed, point density and accuracy of modern terrestrial laser scanning (TLS), as-built BIM can be conducted with a high level of detail. But TLS captures not only useful geometric information but also unwanted objects, such as people, animals or... (read more)

2019-05-10 02:00:42

FARO Introduces New Scene Webshare Cloud Update

FARO recently announced a new update of SCENE WebShare Cloud, representing a substantial leap forward in worldwide secure 3D reality data exchange, collaborative project management and high-efficiency scan-to-BIM operations among project partners. This next-generation cloud-based platform, with its new Point Cloud Download and AEC Management Platform Integration functionalities, contributes to further driving the digital transformation and global cooperation within the AEC industry. SCENE WebShare Cloud allows high-precision 3D reality data to be stored, viewed, evaluated and shared with authorized persons anywhere and anytime using a web browser. This service delivers powerful functionalities, accelerating the overall productivity by guaranteeing fast reality data... (read more)

2020-03-02 11:24:58

Downtown Dublin as a Lidar Point Cloud

A Highly Accurate, Diverse and Dense Annotated Laser Scanning Dataset of a City Centre

The advance of Lidar data acquisition technologies is substantially increasing the amount of spatial data obtained and it is becoming cost-prohibitive to process it manually. Artificial intelligence (AI) has now started to offer cost-effective solutions to analyse and utilize those big datasets. AI can be employed for scene understanding, accurately detecting objects and classifying 3D assets. These are the significant fundamentals of several applications including autonomous navigation, intelligent robotics, urban planning, emergency management and even forest monitoring. The most popular types of 3D spatial information for such applications are Lidar and imagery data. This article describes the dense annotated ground-truth... (read more)

2019-11-27 10:05:38

Vercator Desktop Delivers Efficient Point Cloud Processing

Vercator Desktop software is developed by Correvate, a UCL spin-out company whose vision is to improve geospatial understanding by delivering unrivalled 3D point cloud data processing. The new software delivers fast, automatic 3D point cloud registration and data processing by exploiting an innovative approach which utilises natural features in the environment to register data sets. Accuracy is enhanced as a result with traceable, repeatable reporting. Initially targeted at the construction sector, Vercator Desktop promises to improve the productivity of BIM users in the supply chain. As those involved in the delivery of a construction project increase their appreciation of BIM,... (read more)

2018-07-02 11:45:18

Bentley Puts Modelling in the Cloud

Is the 3D model becoming the only deliverable? For construction, is photogrammetry a better option than LiDAR? How long before modelling software can calculate costs? When should you start mentioning BIM? Richard Groom reports from a day of insight. It was only near the end of a morning of presentations at Bentley’s London offices that the acronym BIM was mentioned. The reason, I was told, is that the meaning of BIM develops with people’s understanding as they progress through Levels one to three and that for those just starting out, talk of BIM as a process can be a step... (read more)

2017-04-28 05:47:45

Pix4D Launches Stand-alone Photogrammetry Cloud Processing Solutions

Pix4D, the Switzerland-based photogrammetry and drone-mapping company, has released Pix4Dcloud and Pix4Dcloud Advanced: the new mapping platforms for online surveying workflows and construction site monitoring. These stand-alone cloud products run Pix4D’s photogrammetry algorithms for mapping and modelling reality from images. Pix4Dcloud Advanced extends the functionalities of Pix4Dcloud to address the needs of construction customers with timeline-based monitoring and improved accuracy. Both products now replace the previous Pix4D Cloud platforms. Christoph Strecha, founder and CEO of Pix4D, commented: “Pix4D’s new and improved cloud solutions actively contribute to completing the existing desktop and mobile product offering. Integrating Pix4D’s leading algorithms and know-how... (read more)

2020-06-09 01:12:18

NavVis Uses SLAM to Automatically Remove Point Cloud Artifacts

NavVis, a leading global provider of indoor spatial intelligence solutions for enterprises, announces a new software release for the NavVis M6 Indoor Mobile Mapping System (IMMS) that automatically detects and removes dynamic objects and object fringe points from point clouds during the post-processing of scan data. Fringe points and dynamic objects are two common types of point cloud artifacts that affect all 3D laser scanning devices. Fringe points arise when a laser beam hits the edge of an object as well as its background. This scattered beam ultimately appears as a so-called fringe around the edge of the object in the... (read more)

2020-04-16 01:52:44

Accurate Point Cloud-based Measurements for Every Stakeholder

NavVis, a leading provider of indoor spatial intelligence technology and enterprise solutions, has released NavVis IndoorViewer 2.6. This major software release includes a new measurement tool that lets users take highly accurate measurements based on point clouds in realistic browser-based digital buildings. This release also makes additional features available to structured e57 point cloud files, including automatically generating highly detailed floorplans and routing. NavVis IndoorViewer is a popular deliverable among building stakeholders without the technical expertise to work with point clouds and modeling software, thanks to the realistic digital buildings and intuitive interface. One of the features that has proven... (read more)

2020-04-08 10:09:26

SimActive Adds Lidar to Point Cloud Processing Solution

In response to the growing use of Lidar, photogrammetry software developer SimActive has integrated a new Lidar workflow in its Correlator3D product. The capability enables users to import a point cloud in the software and to perform registration with an image dataset. Using Lidar as control eliminates the need for traditional ground control points (GCPs) during image processing. Registration occurs during aerial triangulation, leading to a precise alignment of imagery with the Lidar data. Following this, Correlator3D can output colourized point clouds as well as seamless orthomosaics. “Removing the need to manually tag GCPs facilitates the integration of Lidar data... (read more)

2019-12-11 11:36:23

Laser Scanning Professionals Convert Point Clouds with NavVis Cloud

NavVis, a provider of indoor spatial intelligence solutions for enterprises, has announced the launch of NavVis Cloud, a new cloud-based platform that gives laser scanning professionals access to NavVis IndoorViewer as a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solution. Fully immersive, web-based 3D buildings can now be delivered as part of every scan project using point cloud files from terrestrial laser scanners and the NavVis M6 Indoor Mobile Mapping system (IMMS). NavVis IndoorViewer is a web-based application that transforms data captured by laser scanners into fully immersive 3D buildings. With a few clicks, scan data is automatically structured into a basic model of the... (read more)

2019-03-25 11:04:06