3D Laser Surveying – Weighing the Necessity of a Land Survey

Three-dimensional technology is no longer just for modeling equipment or printing parts. Today’s industrial space is benefiting from the contributions of new technology when it comes to various land and infrastructure management operations. From spatial analysis to three dimensional perspectives, 3D tools and techniques help accelerate land surveying tasks, while providing greater realism, and ensuring precision and accuracy, thus improving the safety and efficiency of projects.

Technological advancements in land surveying allow land surveyors and design professionals create virtually life-like and true to form images of areas and properties down to even the most minute detail, including difficult to capture topographic features. This leads to better evaluations of land properties and more efficient development of architectural designs as survey results show better and more accurate assessments of what can be done with a piece of land or property.

It is the land surveyor’s job to assess, with great precision the existing conditions of properties so that they and all other parties involved can make informed decisions on how to approach planning for the land in question. An accurate 3D representation of a property enables engineers and architects to design structures and buildings to be built on the property. A 3D laser scan of the property’s area results in the collection of highly accurate data, which can be rendered into a realistic, and precisely scaled 3D model of the existing conditions of the property. There are numerous benefits to implementing 3D laser surveying, not the least of which include:

• Reduced field time – before 3D laser technology, property mapping took a lot of time, effort, and resources. Technological improvements such as 3D scanners reduce the time needed to complete surveying processes significantly, allowing land surveyors to cut the time spent on the field, and direct their focus on analyzing the collected data for even more thorough assessments.
• Greater versatility – there are numerous types of 3D laser scanning technology that can be used to collect data from different types of locations as well as properties with unconventional configurations. 3D scanners are versatile enough to perform, with great accuracy, certain types of mapping processes such as areal mapping and other previously difficult to achieve scans.
• Higher accuracy – 3D technology reduces the degree of human error that usually comes with traditional measuring instruments. 3D laser scanning makes use of lasers and data points that are precise down to the smallest degrees, reducing the possibility of error significantly, compared to old technology. This kind of precision is critical to the safety and efficiency of planned projects.