The Leica Geosystems BLK2GO handheld imaging laser scanner makes impossible jobs a walk in the park.
PARTNER FUNCTION
It’s anyone’s guess how many older buildings and facilities exist in Australia that only have paper plans or have lost plans. Or maybe there have been so many changes and modifications that all existing plans are no longer accurate.
That’s where professionals like Brad Ellis, CEO of Brisbane-based As-Built Drawings, come in. Brad specializes in surveying such buildings to create new plans and digital models.
For years, Brad did the job the traditional way, measuring and crunching numbers to make drawings. But late last year, he invested in the latest and greatest technology to do just that job, the Leica Geosystems BLK2GO handheld imaging laser scanner from CR Kennedy.
Brad’s first job with the BLK2GO (and indeed, the contract that got him the unit) was to scan a number of properties in a resort town in Tasmania. “The rooms at the resort were really tired and outdated, so the client wanted to give them a good makeover, maybe even a makeover. My drawings were going to be used by the architects and interior designers for their work,” said Brad.
The client’s problem was that the buildings were so old that no one, including the local council, had realistic floor plans. And the scope of the work was huge—about 300 rooms in more than 50 buildings.
But with the BLK2GO, Brad completed the entire scan in just two and a half days. Modeling took only five days to create the floor plans.
“It would have taken at least a couple of months to measure and draw the old way, so I saved a lot of time,” he said.
Without the BLK2GO, Brad wouldn’t have been able to handle the contract easily, so he decided to bite the bullet and get the rig. and it paid off with that first job.
To make plans for GrandSLAM
BLK2GO recreates spaces in 3D by capturing real-time images and precise 3D point clouds and using SLAM (Simultaneous Localization and Mapping) technology to record the user’s trajectory in space. LiDAR data is automatically combined with images to create a colored point cloud.
The device can scan over and under objects, through rooms and doorways, around corners, and up and down stairs. SLAM’s spatial awareness technology allows BLK2GO to always know where it is and where it has been.
According to Leica Geosystems, the BLK2GO is the smallest dual-axis LiDAR that it claims is best in class. The device is housed in a fully shielded and encapsulated dome that reads up to 420,000 points per second. During scanning, both axes rotate continuously.
No tripod is required and data is collected onboard. The imaging system is a 12-megapixel camera for high-contrast imaging and three panoramic cameras for visual navigation through SLAM, point cloud coloring, and panoramic image capture. The handle includes WLAN communication electronics, a rechargeable battery capable of 45 minutes of continuous scanning, data storage for six hours of scanning, and a USB-C port for fast data transfer and edge computing. A light guide surrounding the BLK2GO guides the user while scanning and reports device status and data quality. Overall, the device weighs only 775 grams.
BLK2GO’s GrandSLAM technology combines high-speed, dual-axis LiDAR, a multi-camera vision system and an inertial measurement unit to enable the device to navigate autonomously.
The right scanner for the market
Another client of Brad’s to launch BLK2GO is the operator of a well-known historic market in Sydney’s CBD. The market is 13,000 square meters over two levels in an old building with a cramped interior consisting of hundreds of stalls with walls, shelves, and other things that can obstruct the investigation, as well as a complex network of ceiling services (such as pipes and ducts).
When he got the call to do this job, Brad simply threw the BLK2GO in his backpack and flew from Brisbane to Sydney.
“I only had two pictures to cite,” he said. “The client needed to scan and model all the ceiling services, but when I got on site and saw how many services there were, it was incredible.
And yet, the work ended easily.
“The time it took to physically walk and explore the market was only an hour and a half,” Brad said. “If you tried to do it the old-fashioned way, I just don’t think you could do it. The amount of manpower and time it would take to do what I did in an hour and a half would mean the cost would just disappear and it would not have been possible for the client to pay for it.
Because some of the images were blocked by shelves and other things, Brad was only able to scan about 92% of the entire volume, but it was much more than the client expected.
“I just talked to the architect and the mechanical engineer, and they just opened up the model and looked at it, and it was, ‘Brad, this is incredible,'” he said.
“It was wonderful to hear such feedback from a customer.
And BLK2GO is great for more than just big jobs. Brad was recently contracted to scan a house extension, taking just eight minutes to complete the entire house inside and out.
Time is money
Much of Brad’s work is done by scanning existing buildings that are so old that their owners don’t have floor plans or service drawings.
“What I’m hearing more and more is, ‘We’ve had a lot of blueprints over the last 50 years; there’s been extensions and things like that, but we want consolidated plans,'” he said. “So then they make me scan the assignment and redraw it as one drawing instead of having 50 different versions of the extensions over the years.”
“They can then incorporate my model into their architectural drawings or presentation files and create 3D interior and exterior renderings for their client or anyone else who needs it.
Brad describes BLK2GO as a game-changer.
“My time is extremely valuable,” he said. “I can do so many things now that I wouldn’t have done before. This opens up opportunities for customers to do jobs that they would have previously put in the too-heavy basket.
“BLK2GO saves me so much time going to the site as well as evaluating increases and just increasing the level and quality that I can provide to clients. For example, if they need panoramic views, this device provides panoramic views. You can simply click on a point, zoom in, and see it in real time. Hearing Brad describe the BLK2GO and its capabilities really does sound like a science fiction dream from decades ago. But this is no longer science fiction; it’s a real possibility that can be controlled by just one person and easily create complex point clouds in minutes or hours, not days, weeks, or even months, the traditional way.