Combining point clouds and BIM models

[natalia.dobosz]

Dear Society members,

We are conducting research on the potential uses of point clouds in BIM workflows. We’d love to hear if and how you use point clouds and how relevant they are to your BIM projects. This will help us to understand what role point cloud data can play in the BIM checking process.

Most of all, we would like to know:

• What type of point clouds you would like to display against BIM model (indoor or outdoor scenes)?

• Do you transform your point cloud and model data into the same coordinate system?

• How would you like to compare the point cloud and model? Would it be enough to visually inspect the point cloud displayed against model? Or would you rather calculate and visualise deviations between these two datasets?

• Any further comments on using point clouds & models?

If you are willing to help us even further in our research, share with us your corresponding point cloud / IFC model datasets. They will be used for development and testing purposes.

Thanks a lot for your feedback, we’re looking forward to hearing from you!
Natalia on behalf of Solibri Team

[gschleusner]

@natalia-dobosz

Most of all, we would like to know:

What type of point clouds you would like to display against BIM model (indoor or outdoor scenes)?

• Mostly indoor for coordination, but certainly outdoor for visualization and context.

  Do you transform your point cloud and model data into the same coordinate system?
  -Yes, we typically register the clouds in a project coordinate system. If not we’d know the exact transform from the geo. system.

  How would you like to compare the point cloud and model? Would it be enough to visually inspect the point cloud displayed against model? Or would you rather calculate and visualise deviations between these two datasets?
  -We use; Cloud to model calculations in other tools. Cloud to Cloud is also very handy. Visual inspection is not that useful.

Any further comments on using point clouds & models?
-We would want E57, If the point clouds are structured we’d like to be able to turn on and off scans. Also we’d like to use “color by” options. I’d immediately start looking at segmentation and classification once you add point clouds as this is where they become really useful.

[jukkaalander]

Any update on supporting point clouds?

Even the most rudimentary support for just visualizing unstructured point clouds would be a good start.

[JSN]

I am also interested in the status of developement or if this is still on the agenda.

Just recently we have overtaken a project where some parts are already built and we are really looking for a better way to compare the pointcloud with the latest 3D Model. So any news here would be great as point clouds are getting more an more important in our workflow.

[JSN]

Totally forgot about this one. Not sure if this is of any interesst but probably it’s worth to push this topic again due to the fact that this has become part of the usual workflow.

What type of point clouds you would like to display against BIM model (indoor or outdoor scenes)?

• mainly indoor but actually both

Do you transform your point cloud and model data into the same coordinate system?

• the input data should be set up equally, without any further modification needed
  (Model transformations are possible so not giving to much weight to that feature for now)

How would you like to compare the point cloud and model? Would it be enough to visually inspect the point cloud displayed against model? Or would you rather calculate and visualise deviations between these two datasets?

• it depends on the use case, but also for visual inspections it’s highly usefull to have a classification based on deviation.
  Most effective is a functionality to switch smoothly / change transparancie between cloud / model / photo

Any further comments on using point clouds & models?

• first of all it would be good to know if this topic has been dismissed or if it is still somewhere on the agenda

[HenrikN]

Would be huge if point clouds where to be supported!

[paola bronzo]

is there any plan regarding this feature?

[Thibaut]

Hello @natalia-dobosz,

We are equipped with a FARO scanner for rehabilitation projects and to check TQC models.

Our use cases are numerous, for example for existing buildings the point cloud allows us to model an existing building very precisely in order to be able to design either a new extension (connection of the extension to the new part), or to integrate a new project inside an existing shell.

We also used the point cloud for a very constrained project in terms of adjoining walls since it shared two facades with other buildings. We carried out the design studies from a 2D survey and then once the complete demolition of the building was carried out, we scanned the adjoining buildings to be sure that the project fit well into the real plot.
On this project, we had to buttress the adjoining buildings so that they would not collapse after the demolition, we scanned the buttresses, which allowed us to anticipate the pouring phases of the floors so that they would not be hindered by the buttresses.

We must georeference our point clouds in the same way as the digital models to be sure of the correct assembly of all the models.

We simply need a visualization of the point clouds in Solibri because the consistency checks between cloud and models are done on other software such as Revit.

The point cloud formats we use are E57, RCP and RCS.

[HenrikN]

@Thibaut Another format that is used alot is .las and .laz