FOTOKART - Geodezja, Fotogrametria, Geoinformatyka

The laser scanning technology is a contemporary upgrade of the on earth photogrammetry and represents one of the primary measurement techniques, particularly in case of engineering and industrial objects. It is based on spatial measurement of many millions of points found within the visibility range of the equipment. As a measurement takes a mere couple of minutes, it permits carrying out measurements at as many as a couple o tens of stations in one day, which, in the event of large and complex objects, denotes a very short time span needed to perform field work. Scans combined from all measuring stations form a single cloud of points that reflect the actual shape of an object very accurately. Subject to observances of the appropriate accuracy requirements, this permits a subsequent measurement of any element with an accuracy ranging from 1 to a few millimetres. Upon performance of field work, there is the stage of cameral processing supported by specialised software in our company.

The most important applications of the laser scanning in the industrial field.

• The development of documentation for objects/plants without same - many older objects have not been provided with as built documentation at all, or, the latter has been deteriorated or lost.
• The examination of the compliance of a completed object with its existing documentation - particularly, in the event that such documentation gives rise to doubts or whenever changes in the object due to its modernisations, settlements or deformations are not documented as appropriate.
• The measurement of inaccessible objects - many plants such as transformer stations, rotary ovens or pipelines represent environments that prevent a conduct of measurements by the traditional methods.
• The disclosure of conflicts - in case of spatial objects, a frequent problem is to make sure that a newly designed plant won't be in conflict with any available elements. It is obvious that in such a case, available documentation may not be sufficient. For large and complex objects, the laser scanning has become the only swift method that renders very accurate results.
• The visualisation of designed objects along with existent ones - the cloud of points forms an exact image of an object, through which one may easily 'paste' into it any newly designed solutions and render the so obtained visualisations without the need of labour intensive modelling of the entire existing object.
• The filing - the laser scanning permits achieving 'a three-dimensional picture' with a high resolution and accuracy. Everything which is visible at a distance of several tens of metres from the station is covered by a grid of points spaced at a few millimetres' distance. Thanks to such an approach, a complete image and actual status of an object is achieved as at the day of its measurement, without the necessity of undertaking the decision on the elements to be measured prior to the commencement of work. Later on, there is the possibility of (i) repeated use of the filed data and, subject to actual needs, (ii) a conduct of additional measurements or comparison at an interval. The laser scanning technique permits storing an entire object with its all associated details in a computer, irrespective of the size or importance of the object.