The Map is the Territory: Leica Geosystems
The Map is the Territory: Leica Geosystems
Lasers pew pew pew
Leica laser scanners take millions of measurements in seconds, building a precise digital representation of the physical world.
What problem does Leica Geosystems solve?
Information about the built environment has to be sampled and measured. While we achieve a high degree of precision in manufacturing environment, in the larger building environment, like the factory around the assembly line, measurement and precision is much harder to achieve.
Leica is rooted in precision optics and is most well known for cameras. Leica cameras are behind some of the most iconic photographs. Perhaps less well known is the other companies under Leica's brand, microsystems (microscopes), biosystems (histology), and the topic of today’s post, geosystems (acquired by Hexagon AG in 2005).
Leica Geosystems produces a complete range of laser survey equipment, used to create precise measurements of the world. The “traditional” tool, called a Total Station, is a computerized laser on a tripod. It is used to take measurements from the station to any point within sightline on the jobsite.
Field measurement isn’t as simple as it seems. Point to point measurements even with electronic assistance is a time consuming process. Once the measurements are taken, they must be combined, mapped, and processed to produce a digital map for the intended use-case. Only then does the end user find out if what needs to be measured is captured. If something is missing, the process needs to be repeated.
Laser scanners change the process by capturing millions of points at a time capturing everything in sight. Many of these captures are then “registered” together to create a point cloud representation of the entire area or building. Instead of intentionality, surveyors focus on comprehensiveness. This captures all the data the back office might ever need, preventing repeat trips to the field.
Measuring the world
No matter what size of construction project, there’s usually an existing condition that we are building upon. Even a blank canvas for building has to be first unearthed. As construction progresses, there’s an inevitable need to adjust to deviations. What we model on the computer is rarely exactly reproduced in the field. This means it’s critical to measure before you build, while you build, and after you build.
As technology improves, a better strategy is to just capture as much data as possible. Laser scanners capture millions of point per second, creating a total map of the conditions around them. By analyzing these points, we can see that snapshot the world in dramatic detail.
Measuring billions of points by traditional methods would be time and cost prohibitive. With scanning’s fidelity and ease of use, non-surveyors with an interest in capture can preserve snapshots of the world. When the Notre Dame went up in flames in 2019, a laser scan of the cathedral a decade before by an architecture historian proved invaluable in providing the data for its restoration. Scanning a key tool adopted by the National Parks Service, preserving heritage structures in high definition.
Reality capture in your pocket
As technology to capture our world becomes more accessible, it allows us to see more of the world. Camera phones gives us the opportunity to share and see views from far away places. Laser scanners can be combined with other devices, moving beyond traditional surveying. Leica scanners are be mounted on robot dogs, on flying drones, and used as a hand-held device. The “futuristic” scene from Prometheus isn’t too far away.
Laser scanning is just one of the many emerging technologies that help us better capture the space around us. Photogrammetry, where many photos are processed to create a point cloud, is the foundation of many new exciting techniques I will cover in future posts.