Building information modeling is a new approach in the construction industry that got extreme popularity for the last few years. In combination with point clouds and highly technological scanning, BIM helps to achieve excellent results.
General Review
To make it easier for you to understand what point cloud to BIM is, we’ll describe an example.
You are a construction manager. One section of your object is on renovation. The designs are developed by the contractors. Probably, you would be able to use these designs for the BIM you have. Otherwise, you’ll have an inaccurate BIM and one more incomplete model for a part that is on the repair. Laser scanning of a renovated part would enable updating the existing BIM so that you’re able to create a centralized dataset for the whole building.
Same concerns the building holders managing older objects. The issue is that it’s not that easy to keep the information up to date. Documents about pipes, electricity and other structural systems are usually stored in disorder.
Using point cloud data, you can organize all the detail, keep all the documents within an easy reach. BIM schemes are extremely helpful in building and facility management.
Levels and Equipment
Point cloud to BIM requires professional technological means. A model is created with a laser scanner. In order to get an accurate model, it’s important to subdivide an object into several parts for separate scanning. A complete model is created by putting all the scans together.
For point cloud data processing special software is required. A quality laser scanner enables collecting high volumed point clouds. The number of points may vary from several hundred to billions. An accurate laser scan means an accurate building information model. One model can be linked to one or more point clouds (and vise versa).
There are a few moments that are considered within the point cloud.
They are:
- wide variety of model specifications (for example, it can be a model in a certain dimension, a plan or a section);
- structural subdivision (one can divide it by different criteria to keep only the required sections);
- options (you can move, rotate, copy and do many other actions with this data).
Point cloud to BIM is a smart solution that helps to reduce the overall costs from a long-term perspective, streamline the dataset and optimize the construction on all its stages.