Insite360 Laser Reality Capture Surveying
Reality capture digital twins of your buildings, utilities, and external sites with Insite360 & NavVis VLX rapid mobile laser scanning.
- High speed
- Intuitive
- Low Carbon
COGNICA have used the NavVis VLX to capture photogrammetry and Point Cloud scans in both the internal and external environments for several years. The VLX is a body mounted mobile mapping device that COGNICA have utilised to capture various environments from water treatment works to university buildings.
Mobile mapping involves the capture of spatial data whilst on the move, this allows large areas to be captured at speed with high accuracy. The VLX has four cameras positioned on the top of the device that each take high resolution images, for a full 360° view. Vertical and horizontal 16-layer lidar sensors capture point cloud data as the operator walks around the site.
Figure 2 - The head of the VLX.
Data captured from the VLX is rapidly processed, with photogrammetry and laser point cloud being seamlessly integrated and made accessible via COGNICA’s Insite360; a secure, cloud, web application, giving users 24/7/365 access to navigate their site scans. Insite360 enables the user to navigate the scan in all planes, add points of interest markets with rich content embedded for instant access, create, and save accurate measurements of objects, and authorised users can download the whole or elements of the captured point cloud.
Scanning on operational sites is possible as objects that move through the VLX’s viewing zone are automatically removed from point clouds during post-processing, requiring less manual work, enabling rapid delivery. If people are captured during the scan the object blurring option can be selected as part of cloud processing, so both faces and bodies are blurred out of the photos. This method removes the need for downtime, so normal site operations can continue with minimal disruption.
As the VLX is mounted on a person, the system allows capture of data from wherever the operator can access safely on foot, including external sites, internal spaces, elevations, interiors, buildings, etc.
The VLX captures data from a wide field of view, including buildings, roads, and plant. The range of capture is up to one hundred metres. With an optimised route plan, large areas can be captured at high speed, resulting in reduced costs and time.
VLX scans can be integrated with scans from other hardware, such as drones or Traditional Laser Scanning (TLS), this is made easier if all scans use the same control spatial reference control system. The VLX can capture these set points during the scanning process. When these scans are uploaded into Insite360 they will automatically lock together using these set points as anchors.
Figure 3 - Adding a Control Point to a scan.
The VLX operates via dynamic reality capture, so large areas can be captured at speed. The solution is ideal for large data capture where time is limited, such as during breaks in operational areas. The VLX can capture up to 10 times faster than the TLS method as it is using mobile mapping as opposed to scanning from fixed points. Scan capture is completed on the move and therefore plans can change during a scanning instance which is useful in changing environments or unplanned site events. This method results in less operational downtime than traditional laser scanner capture, as when these unplanned events occur there is greater scope for flexibility in where to capture next.
Visit our dedicated reality capture page to learn more about Insite360 and Reality Capture scanning services with COGNICA.