Construction Technology Showdown—Does One Reality Capture Solution Rule Them All?

At Autodesk University 2018, we unveiled our innovative approach to deploying high-definition 3D laser scanning on cast-in-place concrete projects in San Francisco the day prior to concrete placement, analyzing the 3D point cloud against the BIM, and delivering a highly detailed report of deviations the following morning that the construction team could use to rectify any out-of-tolerance elements prior to concrete placement. The result was the highest quality ever achieved on CIP projects. The logical next step was to look inward at our process, software, and hardware for efficiency and quality gains, then look outward for other solutions. We deployed, tested, and analyzed the data from the following reality capture solutions in our quest to see if there truly is one tool that rules them all. We’ll compare the results from each unit and suggest the appropriate application for each. It’ll be a showdown between Leica RTC360 (LiDAR), Leica BLK360 (LiDAR), UAV (LiDAR), Matterport Pro2 (photogrammetry), and UAV (photogrammetry)