Land Surveyor Forum

Replies

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  J. Todd Henwood, P.S. March 1, 2016 at 1:32pm

  It's accurate.  But accuracy is a relative term.  Question is, is it accurate "enough"??  Followed by "accurate enough for what"?? 

  Why use it??  Lots of reasons to use it.  Lots of reasons not to use it.  All depends on the project. 

  One reason to use it: 

  I have had many occasions on remote projects, that is, projects that are hudnreds or thousands of miles away from the office, and the engineers/architects almost always ask for items outside of the original survey limits.  Having "over-scanned" these areas, their items of interest were able to be extracted from the point cloud data without having to incur those budget-busting return trips.  And we were able to charge for the value of the data, as opposed to the additonal costs of the return trip.

  One reason not to use it:

  Overkill.  If you're measuring bridge clearances (only) say, then take the reflectorless total station and shoot 2-4 points and be done.

  For me, it is another tool in the tool box.  Some projects, there's no other tool that can do the job.  For other projects, leave it in the tool box.  It definitely has it's role, and we are using all three: static, mobile, and aerial LiDAR.  And with the increasing trend of designing in the 3-D world, it will be here to stay.  For layperons, it's a "wow" factor when providing them with the free viewing software that goes along with several of the scanning providers.

  My 2 cents...--JTH
• Survey Legend

  ⚡Survenator⌁ March 1, 2016 at 1:11pm

  Good question..