On Point with Historic Preservation: Point Clouds for Old Buildings

The speed and cost of obtaining laser scans has made it realistic to generate point-cloud data for every renovation project, particularly detail-sensitive historic preservation projects. However, not all point clouds are created equal. How do you specify laser scan services so costs can be compared between providers? How can you ensure that the delivered data will meet your requirements? This presentation will review requirements for specifying laser scan services so the point cloud level of accuracy is appropriate for your project. We will review US Institute of Building Documentation (USIBD) level of accuracy (LOA) specification documents to help define this task. Once you have point clouds, how do you use them? Point clouds are extremely large and accurate. Using them in Revit software requires planning and an understanding of model requirements. A historic preservation project case study will illustrate benefits and pitfalls, and we’ll present tips and tricks for modeling efficiently.