3D Scan on Existing Conditions
By John Turner, P.E.
Allow me to first offer my confession – I’m a Yankee, and compared to many, a relatively slow adopter of technology. The transition to digital photography, GPS in our cars and the fast evolution from cellular phones to smartphones is simply incredible.
Sometimes necessity pushes me to try technology. Google Earth has demonstrated to all of us the power of scanning. Did the house face south or west? We used to receive phone calls and the caller would ramble on about their expansion cape with four doghouse dormers and the 3rd chimney from the left, etc. Now with Google Earth we can quickly see that chimney and do a much better job talking intelligently about their question. Google Earth works great on building exteriors and in urban locations. However, head out to the country or step inside any building, and say goodbye to those great images.
Enter digital scanning services. You’ve likely seen this technology utilized for showing off houses ready for bidding wars. Similar scanning methods, just higher quality, can be utilized for architectural and engineering services. You probably have not seen how effective John Hubbard from Matterscan is at capturing all kinds of tough-to-reach spaces like attics and crawl spaces. In the photograph,
John captured complex bell tower and roof framing to allow us to design reinforcement of this structure. We are able to measure and check from the convenience of any computer with an internet connection!
And while I respect the architects that can document the architectural layout of a building in a few hours, no single person can capture architectural, structural, mechanical, electrical and plumbing features with the speed and accuracy of a laser scan.
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This Category | Home Repairs, Residential Engineering, Structural Design, Structural Engineering |
This Author | John Turner, P.E. |