Drones in Construction: Beyond Pictures—Capturing and Exploring Actionable Data

This lecture will begin with a regulatory overview of that which is required to operate drones commercially in the United States, and a history of B&G’s path to compliant operations on our projects. A simple introduction to types of hardware, outputs, and basic photogrammetry will follow, with lessons learned on what’s necessary to begin mapping and acquiring accurate 3D models. We will share our best practices for planning safe automated-flight missions to acquire 3D meshes and point clouds, and highlight these outputs using real-world examples. Furthermore, we will showcase what is possible when data acquired by drones is integrated deeply into existing Building Information Modeling (BIM) software, by overlaying point clouds in Autodesk, Inc., software such as Revit software and Navisworks software for use in conceptual modeling, site coordination, and quality-control checks. Finally, we will demonstrate how to share this data easily with entire project teams to provide actionable data for collaboration across locations. This session features Navisworks Manage, ReCap 360, and Revit. AIA Approved