Software recommendations

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AppendixB
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Software recommendations

Post by AppendixB »

I was looking for advice knowledge on the type of software suitable for street scenes. I am happy with although steep learning curve with Faro Scene for processing initial scans but I am particularly looking for something to enable me to produce 2d drawings from cad capturing road markings etc. to produce the type of drawing used by collision investigators. I know the easiest way is to trace from a top down view onto cad but I was wondering if there was a more efficient way.
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Re: Software recommendations

Post by vislaw »

Our business is forensic visualization with a heavy majority of cases involving roadway collision scenes. We used to produce a large volume of basic CAD-based line diagrams for traffic cases. These days, though, we use different workflows depending upon the situation. For cases involving point clouds I'm very fond of Autodesk RECAP because it has a very friendly learning curve and you can do very quick and dirty scene measurements on top of your point clouds if the applicable street features and physical evidence are visible. We often generate "instant" diagrams in RECAP by simply grabbing screen caps from a top-down orthographic view with various measurements in place:
ReCapScreenCapture.jpg
I would say that about half of our traffic scenes are laser scanned with our FARO scanners while the other half are documented with a drone. We use Pix4D for processing of our drone photogrammetry and we've recently begun using it to import our laser scans for processing. We particularly like how Pix4D handles multiple outputs including very good orthomosaic imagery and topographic contour maps. Many features, such as curblines, show up well with the topographic contour feature while road stripes and other markings are well visualized on the orthographic image. We find that it is very useful to do a combined overlay with the contour lines on top of the orthographic image. Most of our accident reconstructionists and civil engineers now prefer this approach to having us produce a traditional diagram. Below is a diagram from a case involving a collision on a bike path. The contour map at the top is superimposed over the orthographic image at the bottom. This approach shows the boundaries of the path and its physical surface while also permitting accurate determination of elevation changes:
SonomaTopo.jpg
We still do occasionally get requests for the old-style line-based scene diagrams and we generally simply trace the diagram by using an orthographic image as a template. However, we're finding that many engineers are now preferring that we simply give them a scaled high resolution orthographic image of a scene that they then use in place of a traditional diagram. For instance, this is an orthographic image from an intersection in San Francisco:
OrthoImage.jpg
Because this forum limits us to posting images 1000 pixels wide it doesn't do the actual image justice. Nevertheless, you can see enough to recognize how valuable it is to have all of the road surface and markings available in a scaled orthographic format. Once you apply a scale bar or a scaled grid, the reconstructionist can use calipers to derive very accurate measurements and he or she is not limited to working with a simple line diagram. As you can see, all of the pavement cracks and other physical aspects of the scene are easily and accurately visualized by using this technique and this can be important when comparing ground-based scene photographs taken by law enforcement. Best of all, we can generate orthographic images like this automatically from a 15-minute drone session as opposed to the much longer time it takes us to do traditional scanning at a collision scene.
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Re: Software recommendations

Post by Mark Christy »

Hi Robert,

Our software packages are widely used in the UK forensics and crash investigation world. We provide standalone software as well as plugins for the popular Rhino CAD package. Please take a look at our website and we're happy to give you a guided tour and trial of the software if you're interested.

http://www.veesus.com

Many Thanks

Mark
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Re: Software recommendations

Post by landmeterbeuckx »

@Mark Johnson : which drone do you use?
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Re: Software recommendations

Post by vislaw »

landmeterbeuckx wrote:@Mark Johnson : which drone do you use?
I fly a DJI Inspire on most jobs but I use a DJI Phantom 4 or a DJI Mavic Pro in tighter areas.
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Re: Software recommendations

Post by landmeterbeuckx »

as you do this professionaly, do you think the higher end drones (aka topcon, leica,...) are overkill?
I want to step into this type of work to be able to offer the best of both worlds.
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Re: Software recommendations

Post by vislaw »

landmeterbeuckx wrote:as you do this professionaly, do you think the higher end drones (aka topcon, leica,...) are overkill?
I want to step into this type of work to be able to offer the best of both worlds.
With regard to our work objectives (collision scenes & crime scenes), the higher end drones would definitely be overkill, in my opinion. If you need to do large area surveying I can see a benefit from using fixed wing drones that can cover much greater acreage. For photogrammetric mapping of a typical collision scene I'm hard pressed to figure out ANY advantage for using a high end UAV. The Leica is $30,000
http://drones.www1.ireviews.com/aibotix-aibot-x6-review and I'd be genuinely interested in learning why a company would choose that solution over a DJI Inspire with Pix4D as a mapping solution. In fact, there are many jobs where its preferable to pull out a tiny Mavic Pro or a small Phantom 4 Pro so I highly recommend having that option in your arsenal because the ability to fly with extreme portability and a low profile will definitely become important to you at some point.
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Re: Software recommendations

Post by AppendixB »

Thank you everyone.
The use of drones here in the UK and especially in London is severely restricted, so that avenue is pretty much closed down (excluding the cost factor).
@Mark, I will do as you suggest and go and have a look.
I am also about to look at the Faro Draw and Virtusurv as possible solutions.
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Re: Software recommendations

Post by vislaw »

I don't know your regulations but perhaps a tethered blimp would get around your drone restrictions. http://www.livescience.com/47136-tether ... a-box.html

Another alternative might be to use a telescoping pole camera. About ten years ago we built one mounted on the back of a small pickup truck that allowed us to get shots looking down from about 30 feet. It was a bit wonky, but was cheap and worked quite well for cases confined to a single intersection.
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Re: Software recommendations

Post by landmeterbeuckx »

@mark : could it be possible to supply a wetransfer or other link with the image you've posted in original format?

For me detail would be absolutely needed. Can you also do side shootings?
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