Category Archives: Lidar/Imaging
Mobile, Indoor Sensing Devices
Above: 3D sensing mobile devices can create maps of indoor spaces, as demonstrated by this simulated image from Occipital. Credit: Occipital. Mobile 3D sensing devices are big news right now. The announcement of one by Google’s Advanced Technology and Projects (ATAP) group made a stir on social media and the tech blogs back in February...
Capturing the Bluestone Dam
Above: Bluestone Dam is a concrete gravity dam located just upstream of the confluence of the New and Greenbrier Rivers near Hinton, West Virginia. Editor’s note: Because the Bluestone Dam is critical infrastructure, the Corps cannot display images of its insides. In fact, security is one of the key reasons it didn’t contract out the...
Lincoln Memorial Project
Above picture: A limited section of scan data, including the Lincoln statue. In December 2013, DJS Associates, Inc., a firm specializing in 3D scanning technologies,undertook a project of enormous magnitude on behalf of the National Park Service (NPS) and CyArk, a nonprofit organization dedicated to digitally preserving cultural heritage sites around the world. The goal: digitally...
Survey. Dredge. Repeat: Keeping the Columbia River Navigable
As the skipper of Galileo 3, a 30-foot sailboat on the Columbia River, I tell my crew that I am comfortable with 15 feet of water under the keel, get nervous when it drops below 10 feet, and take immediate action if it drops below 6 feet. That’s because I cannot constantly monitor my chart...
Creating the Futuristic Worlds of 3D
We interviewed Autodesk’s technology futurist Jordan Brandt, appropriately, in the Autodesk Gallery at their One Market offices in San Francisco. The Gallery, open to the public and the venue for monthly techie events, is a showcase for eye-popping examples of the types of innovation Autodesk’s customers have been producing for more than three decades. It...
Pix4D Mapper
Imagine walking up to an object with practically any camera and taking photos of it at different angles. Now imagine uploading those images onto a computer and being able to create a survey-accurate point cloud. Sounds impossible, huh? Too good to be true? That’s what I thought when I first heard of Pix4D. When I...