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Five BIM Predictions in 2015

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Building information modeling has become an integral part of the way many construction firms do business. More and more contractors are seeing the benefits and value of BIM and using it to take a more proactive approach to construction.

Here are some of the exciting things happening in BIM you should expect to see throughout 2015 and beyond…

1. BIM is Here to Stay

Today, virtually every large construction firm has a BIM department in-house and even most medium-sized firms either have BIM departments or are in the process of getting one. This trend will continue this year.

New software has made it easier for field teams to extract information from the field and drop it into 3D models to accurately reflect real-world conditions. The result is more accurate models and a more efficient process with less rework overall.

“Once all of the big construction firms are using BIM, all of the mid-tier firms will start using it. The big architectural firms already use it so the smaller firms who want to work with them will also have to have it,” said Tate Jones, owner of LandAir Surveying Company, one of Atlanta’s top five surveying companies. “That migration will continue – similar to the migration from hand drawings to CAD. In five years, there will be very few firms who don’t use BIM.”

For most, the first step in BIM adoption is model coordination. As a next step, firms will extend BIM to include laser scanning before and during construction, as well as total station layout during construction.

Read the full article here in Leica Geosystem’s BIM Learning Center…

Getting a good estimate on laser scanning: What you need to know

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When it comes to getting an accurate estimate on laser scanning services, it’s all in the details. The more detailed information you can provide vendors upfront, the more accurate your estimate will be.

What kind of information do vendors need?

Floor plans of the site and photographs. This will go a long way in getting vendors the information they need to provide you with an accurate estimate rather than just a “high guess” because they’re not sure what they are scanning.

“Character” photographs. These photographs can show a few strategic shots, which are better than simply saying, “It’s an MEP room,” (though it’s really 40-feet tall). If possible, show examples of density.

Video walk-through of the site with a smart phone, complete with narration. This is extremely valuable to vendors to get a clear idea of the scope of the project.

Accurate information on the site and work conditions. This includes extenuating circumstances such as crews only being able to work between 11:00 PM and 5:00 AM, heavy factory work around the clock, extreme temperatures, mandatory safety training, difficult travel conditions (ex: 200 miles from the airport in “Nowhere, USA”), travel expenses not included in estimate, or dangerous site conditions like confined space entry that require special training.

For the best and most accurate price, be upfront and give providers a good idea of what they are getting into, including:

  • Travel to and from site. Include air travel, luggage, rental car, hotel and location.
  • Time on site. This is determined by how long it takes to begin work once crews get to the front gate and the available work hours. (Is it 4-6 hours max or 12 hours?)
  • Work conditions. High-density projects take longer. Lots of vibration slows down the scanning process.
  • Highly reflective material is very difficult to scan (ex: mirror glass, chrome pipes, shiny objects).
  • Heavy foot traffic (mall), loading traffic (fork lifts), or plant process (moving machinery) can complicate the project.
  • Dangerous conditions usually slow scanning, but crews can still perform and scan in sub-surface pipes or tunnels, interstate bridges and heavy construction zones.
  • Night work only always takes longer and increases the difficulty.

Other pricing considerations include the expected deliverables from the job and the level of detail you need, which software package you want data delivered in (some are faster than others), how complex the environment and large the site, and if additional trips are required back to the site.

Remember: though scanning may only take a week or less, modeling can take a month, as it is still not automated.

Most scan projects are too big to e-mail, so you can expect to receive the full deliverable on an external hard drive. Raw point cloud data can reach “gigabyte size,” though finished models and 3D data sets are typically much smaller.

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Tate Jones has over 40 years of experience in land and aerial surveying and was one of the country’s earliest adopters of 3D laser scanning technology. A nationally recognized expert in the field of 3D data capture, he has worked with hundreds of clients in the engineering, architectural and construction industries. Contact him at tjones@lasurveying.com or visit www.landairsurveying.com.

The Next 3D Scanning Frontier: Transportation BIM and Augmented Reality

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As I stand back and look at where 3D laser scanning has led us as a company, I am both pleased and confident that the world of 3D virtual design and engineering is healthy and growing fast.

I recently met some truly amazing people from all over America and Europe who are doing some very forward thinking things with 3D virtual reality in both transportation BIM systems and augmented reality. Here’s a snapshot of what I saw:

Transportation BIM Systems

I was in Washington, DC, a few weeks ago speaking at a large corporate meeting and had the opportunity to see a fascinating presentation on the San Francisco Bay Bridge construction.

The construction cost will come in around $7 billion (yes, billion). The metrics are staggering, but there are four major construction firms working on the project.

Cal Trans has scanner crews scanning the progress on a weekly basis. Because of this, there was room in the budget and the available technology to do real time clash detection of the existing and proposed construction.

Because the bridge was designed in 3D (really in 5D), engineers were able to save big bucks on relatively simple components. For example, the 3D scan allowed them to get real time views from the proposed security cameras underneath the bridge. As a result, the actual number of cameras was cut in half, saving several million dollars.

Crews also used 4D (time) clash detection to view when a new component of the bridge was being constructed while an existing component was still in place. The 4D BIM model, when clashed against the existing model at that moment in the construction sequence, showed that there were interferences in temporary construction items.

Though the clashes would not have interfered with the final design, they did interfere with the interim design and would have slowed construction. This knowledge allowed the designers and contractors to make modifications to the sequences before there was an actual problem.

Just a few years ago, this capability would have been unheard of!

One of the more astonishing things I saw was a 5D construction sequence video that showed the bridge’s proposed construction slide bar and dollars spent on overtime as the bridge was coming out of the ground or water. This enabled you to compare construction costs to the bridge’s progress. At this same time, the 3D graphic was color-coded to show the four separate contractors and their workflows.

This all sounds complicated – and it was – but through the 3D engineering process, you could view the time estimates, add the construction dollars, and come to a very natural conclusion as to what was actually taking place. You could confirm that one contractor had finished his new section before another section was tied into it.

A 3D video showing a major component – like how the cabling system would be threaded through the bridge to provide the final structural support – was also very intriguing to watch.

Augmented Reality

This may be one of the biggest and best changes that I foresee coming to the construction industry.

Augmented Reality (AR) is a live view of a real-world environment whose elements are augmented by computer generated sound, video, graphics or GPS data. If you consider that most new construction will first be built by engineers and designers in 3D in computers, then you may see where we are going with this.

With the base designed in 3D, you can then place a “target” in a construction zone. A target for augmented reality can really be anything as long as a tablet or cell phone can recognized it as graphic signal to launch 3D BIM programs.

These targets are used to orient the tablet to the exact same design point as where the construction is occurring on the ground. When targets are scanned with a tablet, the original design for that exact spot of construction is displayed. As the tablet is moved around this area, you can view the construction in 3D at a specific location.

Here’s an excellent example: Assume that you have a three-sided, multi-story concrete opening for a proposed staircase. By scanning the target placed in that area, construction workers can see on their iPad or Android tablet exactly what the finished product will look like. Not just a flat drawing on 600 sheets of blue lines, but the 3D model of how it will actually fit into the opening.

And remember: the world is international and these projects are under construction all over the world. By doing this, we just transcended the language barrier. We just solved the problem of expert tradesmen who are great at their craft but may not read details on blueprints that well. We just got a crew of 2-5 construction workers from a point of unknown to a point where everyone has a perfect mental picture of what is going to be constructed. That’s a huge step!

One of the oldest sayings for any worthwhile project is, “Begin with the end in mind.” What a great way of accomplishing this.

As a testimony to how well this is working, many construction companies have been rolling out flat screen computers onsite to show superintendents actual BIM models by sequence. All throughout the day, they are used over and over by the workers who are building bridges, buildings, and infrastructure around the world.

These rolling 3D models are helping to get projects constructed right the first time. They are preventing construction problems and saving big money. Very soon, I believe that all of this will be done with either special glasses or projection screens.

Currently, the only obstacle slowing the process is having a way to orient a 3D BIM model real time inside of a building. Outside, it can be done with GPS. But inside, it is more challenging.

However, augmented reality will very quickly make paper plans obsolete. I have seen it in too many places and have seen the benefits. It is coming and will soon be a standard. All of the major construction companies are embracing this technology.

Another real use of augmented reality will be in the operations of the finished building. The technology already exists to allow a maintenance worker to go up to a motor or valve (or any piece of equipment that has a target) and scan it with his tablet or phone.

This opens up a computer database so that he can see the last maintenance schedule and the internal parts of the machine. If he services the machine, his data is automatically sent to the company database and is available for anyone to review. Or, if a repair is needed, he can launch a video of how to take apart the machine and replace any part he needs.

This brings the power of the “owner’s manual” and the entire knowledge stored in the computers running the facility in real time 3D to the exact point it is needed. Imagine the implications if you own a complex manufacturing facility.

In just the past seven years, I have seen strides that were only imagined 10 years ago. But today, it’s all happening – and there are very creative people all over the country working on even more and more innovations. It’s an exciting industry to be working in!

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Tate Jones has over 40 years of experience in land and aerial surveying and was one of the country’s earliest adopters of 3D laser scanning technology. A nationally recognized expert in the field of 3D data capture, he has worked with hundreds of clients in the engineering, architectural and construction industries. Contact him at tjones@lasurveying.com,  tjones@3DLaserSurveys.com or visit www.3DLaserSurveys.com.

3D Laser Scanning: The New Industry Standard

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When we first started laser scanning back in 2005, we replaced some of our total station surveying equipment with scanning technology. As much as anything, this was a great way for us to learn how to use the technology and understand its capabilities and limitations.

Early on, much of the work we did involved transportation projects and large complicated intersection surveys. There were many immediate benefits. For one, our surveyors were no longer put out into traffic and in harm’s way.

Another benefit was that we didn’t have to drive across town or across the state just to check on a few ambiguous points in a survey. Instead, we could just go back and look at the point cloud.

Today, in 2012, the entire world of architectural and engineering design and construction has changed. While before we had to convince clients of the benefits of using laser surveys, we now have a growing client base that simply will not consider starting a project without one.

In addition to providing accurate spatial information to civil engineers, plant designers, architects, contractors – and even insurance companies and crime scene investigators – laser scanning saves both time and money.

The truth is that in very complicated environments – like a mechanical heating and air conditioning plant room or a baggage room in an airport – the cost of scanning is nominal when compared to the total cost of the project.

Here are four primary reasons 3D laser surveys, or high-definition scanning, is quickly becoming the new industry standard when it comes to making precise measurements in complicated environments:

Reason #1: Scanner Speed

The speed of scanning has changed dramatically compared to what it was just seven years ago.

The first scanner we purchased (and still use today) took one hour for a 360-degree spherical orbit. Today, with our current scanners, it takes just six minutes.  This speed enables us to take many more scan set-ups than we used to take.

With our phase-based high speed scanner, we can now get 40 to 60 scans per day, which is very adequate to cover a large two-story mechanical room. To get the same amount of scans seven years ago would have taken a week.

In areas like these, it is the detail we look for, not the range. In extremely complicated areas, we make a set of scans on all sides. This data is invaluable to designers because it allows them to avoid interferences that often occur in these types of areas.

Reason #2: Software Improvements

Improved software programming has also contributed to the widespread acceptance of scanning technology.

I remember talking to clients back in 2005 and our message was something like this, “We will scan for you, then give you a 2D deliverable set of drawings that you can use to design your project.” When they would ask if they could use the point cloud in their design, our answer was always the same: “Yes, but you will have to buy $10,000 worth of software.”

As you can probably imagine, this was not an easy sell.

Fortunately, today Bentley, AutoCAD and Revit all have point cloud engines in them. The difference between an engine and a viewer is that we can now load a point cloud into an “engine” for a client and they can use the data in the design without having to purchase expensive “point cloud” software.

In fact, one of the takeaways from a scanning conference I recently attended was that all of the major software providers are moving to full 3D software design systems. They finally understand what we have known for years. Why would you survey in 3D, flatten the data to 2D, design in 2D then build in 3D? It just doesn’t make sense.

Reason #3: Clash Detection

This alone is worth the cost of a 3D laser survey.

Consider that if a project is modeled in the design phase, the completed final design – including the MEP systems, air handling systems, structural system and all of the architectural design – can be placed within the point cloud and clash detected. Anything that interferes with another system can be seen immediately and corrected before construction.

This is huge! What prudent engineer, designer or contractor would not want this advantage?  How important would this be to an owner?

Reason #4: TrueView or 360-Degree Spherical Photography

This technology has also improved quite a bit in the last seven years. When we first started scanning, we were fascinated with the fact that scanners could take photographs of the surrounding area, and then take that photographic data and overlay it with the scan data to make general measurements to the environment.

Unfortunately, back then the on-board camera was not as good as we had hoped and sometimes the pictures would come out octagonal and disjointed. As the process became more refined, we were able to mount a high resolution camera on the scanner and produce a crystal clear, color spherical photograph of the site.

This is a big step because it allows you to view a site from any scan set up. You can add text and information to the photographs and then e-mail a specific view to a client across the country or across the world. (In this case, some of our clients pay for our scanning fees with their savings in plane tickets!) This tool also enables clients to look out from the center of every scan and saves lots of time and discussion as to what is or is not located in the area of interest.

High definition scanning has quickly evolved from an emerging technology to an industry best practice when it comes to complicated projects. The construction process always includes many unknowns and the chance of design and construction errors is always high.

Why put yourself in the position of having to explain how a construction project was slowed down or over-budget because a laser scan was not the foundation of the project?

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Tate Jones has over 40 years of experience in land and aerial surveying and was one of the country’s earliest adopters of 3D laser scanning technology. A nationally recognized expert in the field of 3D data capture, he has worked with hundreds of clients in the engineering, architectural and construction industries. Contact him at tjones@lasurveying.com,  tjones@3DLaserSurveys.com or visit www.3DLaserSurveys.com.

Scan to BIM: The evolution of scanning technology

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The truth is, scanning is the only cost-effective way to collect the existing world.

You simply can’t go into a cathedral, petroleum refinery, or metropolitan multi-use entertainment facility and measure with rulers and expect to get the accuracy you need to confidently design renovations.

Laser scanning is the only way to do it.

Up until recently, BIM users would take a set of “asbuilt drawings” put them into a 3D modeling program and create a computer model to work from. Now, after several years of doing that, the harsh realization has surfaced that there are many discrepancies between the “record drawings” and the actual environment to be constructed.

If it’s sheet rock and wood, it can be adjusted to fit. But if it’s glass, steel, concrete or mechanical equipment, a seemingly small error can grow very costly as it is much harder to warp and bend. (Putting expensive new equipment into an area that is too small is a nightmare for the installer, designer, engineer and the insurance company.)

These new 3D laser scanning technologies have dramatically changed the surveying industry – and they have changed it fast. But to really understand the evolution, let’s take a step back….

2004: 360-Degree Scans
The first 360-degree scanners came onto the scene around 2004. Before that, if you wanted to scan something above your head, you had to tilt the scanner back and scan at a steep angle, as most only had a 120-degree scan ability on the vertical axis. Several companies came out with full straight scanners about this time that made it much easier.

2006: Time-of-Flight Scans
The next evolution was time-of flight scanners. In 2006, a time-of-flight scanner took about 45 minutes to one hour for a complete 360-degree scan. If you could do 8-10 scans a day, you were doing very well. Today, the same can be done in about 12-15 minutes, depending on the density you want a scan.

At our firm, our first scanning projects were roads. In a very complicated area, we would scan 1”X 1”. The time-of-fight scanners back then could collect 4,000 points per second. Now they can easily collect 50,000 points per second!

2008: Phased-Based Scans
Today’s phase-based scanners collect 2,000,000 points per second and can create a ¼-inch x ¼-inch pattern at a distance of about 100 feet. This is incredible and as fast and dense as the average user needs. The hardware will eventually get better, faster and cheaper, but phase-based scanning is effective, stable, and provides the ability to scan almost anything in a reasonable about of time.

Present: Scan to BIM
Today, the big research money is going towards Scan to BIM technology, which converts billions of points in the point cloud into useful data.

Several companies have begun addressing this including small independent companies like Pointools, which came up with a way for scanners to recognize flat surfaces. (As small as this may seem, it is a huge advancement.) The program will also recognize pipes and model them automatically about 50% of the time. (Another major advancement.)

Now many of the pipe programs are getting to the same place and advancing the ball. Currently, we are at what I call the “Model T Ford” in software programs, but every year the programs get better.

The next evolution
Having now scanned may very complex areas in industrial sites, we have had a chance to compare them to the asbuilt drawings. In the horizontal view, they are generally close geometrically to the actual. But in their vertical axis, the pipes and duct work in the asbuilt drawings are rarely correct.

There are many reasons for this, but most often it is because the process is so difficult that when an installer sees an easier path, he generally takes it.

“Record drawings,” or asbuilt surveys, are rarely done after the work is complete. Typically, the conversation goes something like this: “Here are the design drawings. Redline any changes that you made.”

There is not a lot of motivation to do a totally new survey. But if a design team takes these documents and models them into their computer programs, they are unknowingly creating multiple problems for the contractor on the new job.

We recently took a set of asbuilt documents for a complex project, modeled them and then compared them to the point cloud to do a clash detection to determine potential interferences. The outcome was eye opening.

Few of the pipes, ducts, waterlines or fire lines in the ceiling were in the place shown on the record drawings. If these documents had been used, the MEP contractors would have spent ten times our fee “field fitting” the new utilities inside the old.

With the utility and cost of laser scanning, it would be smart to use one on every renovation project. If for nothing else, insurance! Just one field fit can sometimes cost far more than the scan itself.

If you scan the environment and put the proposed design into the point cloud, you can tell in just a few minutes where the major interferences will be. We have found conflicts that would have taken upwards of $100,000 to fix if they had to be field-changed during construction. Some were fatal flaws in the required design clearance that could not have been achieved and a totally new design would have had to been submitted.

Scanning to BIM is a big and extremely important step in surveying. Right now, it is the design software that is trying to catch up with the scanning potential. Already this year, several new programs have come out that are much better at accepting point clouds and computer models, but they still have a long way to go.

Not having a design based on a laser scan of the actual environment is a risk that few designers should take. I know I wouldn’t want to tell an owner that there is a construction problem that could have been avoided with a relatively inexpensive laser scan.

Laser scanning has evolved from a “luxury” to a best practice and it’s not a step that any prudent designer should skip.

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Tate Jones has over 40 years of experience in land and aerial surveying and was one of the country’s earliest adopters of 3D laser scanning technology. A nationally recognized expert in the field of 3D data capture, he has worked with hundreds of clients in the engineering, architectural and construction industries. Contact him at tjones@3DLaserSurveys.com or visit www.3DLaserSurveys.com.

A 3D laser survey can save you thousands – just ask America’s busiest airport.

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When the time came to remove and renovate the existing underground baggage conveyor system in America’s busiest airport, the action never stopped.

The contractor hired for the renovation had a seemingly impossible task: build a new conveyor system while the old one was still in operation. No matter what, the luggage movers had to keep going.

Together, the contractor and a team of laser surveyors spent seven days scanning the site with high-speed scanners. They worked at night, when airport traffic was lightest, and when the final registered point cloud was compared to the proposed 3D model of the new conveyor system, critical clashes were detected.

By uncovering the interferences early, the contractor saved thousands in construction and re-manufacturing dollars.

Click here for the full case study.

High-definition scanning is changing the construction, architecture and engineering industries. The beauty of laser scanning is its ability to gather detailed data that the client doesn’t even know they need at the time, but will prove useful down the road.

In addition to being incredibly precise, scans can be used to produce point clouds, digital color photos, survey-quality files, computer models and videos from the scans of multiples views. You can insert animation or virtual buildings, roads and people to show proposed areas; or insert design drawings from BIM to check for clash or interference.

And once the site is scanned and processed, anyone – from analysts to engineers – can access it anytime. All you need to check and recheck engineering quality data is a desktop computer.

The cost savings of avoiding reconstruction and re-engineering far outweigh the cost of the scan itself. And, as with most things, isn’t it cheaper to get it right the first time?

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Tate Jones has over 40 years of experience in land and aerial surveying and was one of the country’s earliest adopters of 3D laser scanning technology. A nationally recognized expert in the field of 3D data capture, he has worked with hundreds of clients in the engineering, architectural and construction industries. Contact him at tjones@3DLaserSurveys.com or visit www.3DLaserSurveys.com.

Surviving 2012: Six things every business can learn from the surveying industry

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As a professional land surveyor for 40 years, I have a first-hand understanding of the housing downturn and subsequent economic recession we have been experiencing for the past six years.

At our firm, we began seeing the impact in early 2008, just one year after the peak in our business in 2007. Surveying is often viewed (at least by banks) as part of the construction industry and when construction loans dried-up, so did our business.

For surveyors, the hit was especially hard because our industry doesn’t just rely on the housing market, but also on commercial and retail expansion, which depends on the public sector to build infrastructure like new roads, sewer outfalls, parks, schools, airport expansions and industrial parks.

When things got bad, many surveyors began discounting their services in an attempt to hold onto their clients and market share. Over the past three years, for example, I have seen the fee and value of ALTA surveys – surveys required by banks before they will refinance a loan – sell for half of what they did before the fall.

The irony is that as the economy slowed, interest rates began to fall and investors, shopping centers and businesses began to refinance their properties. The need for ALTA surveys actually grew as a result! It was only a matter of months before attorneys representing banks began calling our firms asking for “ALTA updates,” implying something other than a new survey.

The firms of the future will be smaller with fewer permanent staff. Fees will change. It will no longer be just about how many crews you have, but how smart you are at collecting and selling 3D data. And those firms that can find ways to use existing sources of 3D data will be even better equipped to weather the storm.

For survey firms – as is true for all industries in this economy – the way to survive is to simply be a better businessperson. Here are six important things every business can learn from the surveying industry:

#1: Control your price. There are only two ways to control your prices: have a healthy backlog of profitable work and provide valuable services to your clients.

#2: Utilize subcontractors. Have a permanent staff large enough to process the workflow and provide quality control, but maintain relationships with good subcontractors and associate firms to expand your workforce when you have a wave a work that your permanent staff can’t handle.

#3: Make profit your goal – not billing. Just because you bill a crew out at $1,000 doesn’t mean you make $1,000. Your actual profits are typically closer to $150.

#4: Don’t buy – rent, swap and borrow. If you can rent a piece of equipment for $500 and make $150, you have greatly reduced your cash flow and improved your profit margin. Take a look at all of the expensive equipment you have purchased and must pay for every day. Unused equipment sitting on the shelf is not a good investment. Swap with other firms when you can, rent when you have to, and buy when the workload demands it.

#5: Always have a contract. Make the signing of a contract the starting point for every job. Even with an established client, having a signed contract can save a lot of scope creep and misunderstanding even on the simplest jobs.

#6: Don’t cut your price without changing the scope. Many lawyers have called to tell me that my price is too high. I remind them that it’s less than their price and they don’t even have to leave the office!

Lastly and most importantly, be realistic. If your workload goes down, you must cut your overhead immediately. For most of us, this means staff, which is always the hardest thing to do.

At one point, we had to reduce our employees from a high of 45 to just seven. We have since slowly built back up, but it was this reduction in staff, combined with tight cash management and a realistic outlook, that enabled us to survive.

The key to surviving this economy – for land surveying firms, as well as all business – is to be realistic, creative and adaptable. This is what it will take to survive and grow into better times.

Tate Jones has over 40 years of experience in land and aerial surveying and was one of the country’s earliest adopters of 3D laser scanning technology. A nationally recognized expert in the field of 3D data capture, he has worked with hundreds of clients in the engineering, architectural and construction industries. Contact him at tjones@3DLaserSurveys.com.