Scan planning for open fields

Discuss FARO hardware here.
Post Reply
scottkim
I have made 20-30 posts
I have made 20-30 posts
Posts: 22
Joined: Thu Jun 28, 2018 5:39 pm
5
Full Name: Scott Kim
Company Details: UCC environmental
Company Position Title: Designer
Country: United States
Linkedin Profile: No
Has thanked: 19 times
Been thanked: 1 time

Scan planning for open fields

Post by scottkim »

I have experience with scanning, but I have never done a scan of an open field like the one below. There are no artifacts nearby.
I am at a loss as to how to create a scan chain. So I am asking for your help.
How can I do a scan plan to get a more accurate scan?

I will use the items below.

- FARO S350 scanner
- FARO Scene & Cyclone register 360
- Uses up to 24ea x 200mm spheres
- 20+ targets are set up and a surveyor surveys them.

Thank you.
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
jaredmatthews
V.I.P Member
V.I.P Member
Posts: 202
Joined: Sun Sep 13, 2015 7:19 pm
8
Full Name: Jared
Company Details: Sova Surveys Limited
Company Position Title: Director
Country: UK
Skype Name: jaredmatthews
Linkedin Profile: Yes
Has thanked: 5 times
Been thanked: 13 times
Contact:

Re: Scan planning for open fields

Post by jaredmatthews »

Assuming you are just picking up ground contours for this?:

I think it would be much less painful, and more economical to either:

A) Survey this traditionally using a Total Station and detail pole
B) Survey this using a drone
scottkim
I have made 20-30 posts
I have made 20-30 posts
Posts: 22
Joined: Thu Jun 28, 2018 5:39 pm
5
Full Name: Scott Kim
Company Details: UCC environmental
Company Position Title: Designer
Country: United States
Linkedin Profile: No
Has thanked: 19 times
Been thanked: 1 time

Re: Scan planning for open fields

Post by scottkim »

Since this is part of a power plant, using drones is not easy as there is a complicated approval process. Also, we don't have that experience.
We also want to cover this area with the laser scan because there is a power plant building to the north of this scan area and a small building to the south that needs to be included in the scan as well.

Thanks for your comment.
jaredmatthews
V.I.P Member
V.I.P Member
Posts: 202
Joined: Sun Sep 13, 2015 7:19 pm
8
Full Name: Jared
Company Details: Sova Surveys Limited
Company Position Title: Director
Country: UK
Skype Name: jaredmatthews
Linkedin Profile: Yes
Has thanked: 5 times
Been thanked: 13 times
Contact:

Re: Scan planning for open fields

Post by jaredmatthews »

Thanks for the extra detail.

I would highly recommend hiring the services of a qualified surveyor with the right equipment to help out.

With the right equipment and survey workflow, he can set out some survey stations around both of the buildings you are looking to scan.

You can then capture these stations with your scanner and reference them to the same grid as the Total station. (The surveyor can also pick up all of the ground area with a detail pole)

Theres good reason why large open areas like what you are describing are not scanned with a Terrestrial scanner.
scottkim
I have made 20-30 posts
I have made 20-30 posts
Posts: 22
Joined: Thu Jun 28, 2018 5:39 pm
5
Full Name: Scott Kim
Company Details: UCC environmental
Company Position Title: Designer
Country: United States
Linkedin Profile: No
Has thanked: 19 times
Been thanked: 1 time

Re: Scan planning for open fields

Post by scottkim »

Your comment gave me an opportunity to reconsider this.
thank you
User avatar
gordonired
V.I.P Member
V.I.P Member
Posts: 144
Joined: Thu Mar 09, 2017 4:27 pm
7
Full Name: Gordon
Company Details: Roska DBO
Company Position Title: GIS Coordinator
Country: Canada
Linkedin Profile: Yes
Location: Alberta
Has thanked: 25 times
Been thanked: 38 times

Re: Scan planning for open fields

Post by gordonired »

I would echo what Jared has said. I love scanning and would pick it over surveying with a total station every time if possible. That being said, with the brief description given it does look a total station would be a better tool, both with the lack of features (you use cloud to cloud I assume?) and large distances covered.

Myself, and I'm sure others on this forum, have learned the hard way that C2C can introduce some nasty creeping errors here and there. I started taking advice from here, and integrated total station/surveying techniques to augment my laser scanning skills. A nice easy project like this would be a good oppourtunity for you to rent some gear (usually a couple hundred per day), and get a bit of rudimentary training and start to integrate it into your own workflows.

If you're very set on only a scanner, one thought that comes to my mind is to build some temporary targets. Something out of wood/plywood maybe? I'd image a pyramid or square shape, not 2D. Put some checkerboards on it, have the surveyors shoot those points in as well. You'd likely need to scan on high resolution settings to help your software recognize those targets if they are far away, which bumps your scanning time up.
User avatar
gsisman
V.I.P Member
V.I.P Member
Posts: 898
Joined: Fri Oct 07, 2016 1:51 pm
7
Full Name: Steve Long
Company Details: Montgomery County DOT _ MD
Company Position Title: Land Survey Supervisor
Country: United States
Skype Name: gsisman1
Linkedin Profile: Yes
Has thanked: 767 times
Been thanked: 149 times

Re: Scan planning for open fields

Post by gsisman »

jaredmatthews wrote: Mon Mar 27, 2023 8:37 pm Assuming you are just picking up ground contours for this?:

I think it would be much less painful, and more economical to either:

A) Survey this traditionally using a Total Station and detail pole
B) Survey this using a drone
Or from the surrounding description -RTK topo. The scanner also would get only the surface vegetation in some cases not the true ground surface ,depending on bare earth verses long grass versus manicured grass
User avatar
MarkJLane
V.I.P Member
V.I.P Member
Posts: 149
Joined: Sat Mar 17, 2018 11:25 pm
6
Full Name: Mark Lane
Company Details: Faro Technologies
Company Position Title: ANZ Account Manager
Country: Australia
Linkedin Profile: Yes
Has thanked: 25 times
Been thanked: 43 times
Contact:

Re: Scan planning for open fields

Post by MarkJLane »

I made Plan Scan to make it easier to make scanning mudmaps like this. Check it out here - https://tls.tools/PlanScan/

Seems like you'll certainly need plenty of targets though!
Mark Lane
Sydney, Australia
TLS Tools
GeoSLAM
Image
User avatar
smacl
Global Moderator
Global Moderator
Posts: 1409
Joined: Tue Jan 25, 2011 5:12 pm
13
Full Name: Shane MacLaughlin
Company Details: Atlas Computers Ltd
Company Position Title: Managing Director
Country: Ireland
Linkedin Profile: Yes
Location: Ireland
Has thanked: 627 times
Been thanked: 657 times
Contact:

Re: Scan planning for open fields

Post by smacl »

gsisman wrote: Thu Mar 30, 2023 7:29 pm
jaredmatthews wrote: Mon Mar 27, 2023 8:37 pm Assuming you are just picking up ground contours for this?:

I think it would be much less painful, and more economical to either:

A) Survey this traditionally using a Total Station and detail pole
B) Survey this using a drone
Or from the surrounding description -RTK topo. The scanner also would get only the surface vegetation in some cases not the true ground surface ,depending on bare earth verses long grass versus manicured grass
Agreed that this is the ideal use case for a RTK unit over total station and has the added advantage of being in national grid without having to bring in external control. Good point about vegetation too, using a pole and picking points removes a lot of ambiguity here. For a very big area drone mounted LIDAR or backpack mobile mapping can be a great solution, but for smaller areas, RTK can be much more efficient and accurate.
Shane MacLaughlin
Atlas Computers Ltd
www.atlascomputers.ie

SCC Point Cloud module
Emanuele
I have made 80-90 posts
I have made 80-90 posts
Posts: 85
Joined: Wed Apr 29, 2015 8:31 am
8
Full Name: Emanuele Ferrari
Company Details: Studio FERRARI
Company Position Title: Titolare
Country: Italia
Linkedin Profile: Yes
Location: Castellamonte (TO)
Has thanked: 9 times
Been thanked: 15 times

Re: Scan planning for open fields

Post by Emanuele »

Hi,
A solution that I use in similar cases is the use of the scanner in polygonal mode with forced centering similar to a total station.
The 200 mm spheres guarantee good precision even up to 50-60 m.
If possible I also acquire the rtk position of the mirror center using a special support for the GNSS antenna
Post Reply

Return to “FARO”