Laser Scanning, BIM & Revit

3D Building Information Modeling systems (BIM) are quickly becoming the productive tool many of us in the construction industry thought they would be. In a building renovation project, BIM allows the design team, the construction team, and the building owner to add-to and reference all information acquired during the development of the BIM model - including existing conditions measurements.

How does point cloud data collected by the 3D laser scanner fit with BIM systems?

Once 3D scanning is completed and the data has been post-processed, the 3D data can be imported into Civil 3D CAD, Revit or NavisWorks. This data import process allows you to manage existing conditions data in these systems.

This can be much easier and more efficient than doing hand-measurements yourself. Here are a few of the reasons:

• The laser scanner captures all of the existing conditions measurements - not just those objects you spend time measuring.
• If you need to re-check a measurement all of that point data is available to you eliminating the need to go back out to the site.
• In your CAD program you can create precise 2D or 3D drawings at anytime you want.