With the recent increase in the use of 3D laser scanners to capture real-world conditions, many advanced operators are looking for ways to view, use, and manipulate the resulting data. After a laser scan is performed on an object, structure, or area, the result is a “cloud” of data points that can reach hundreds of millions. Data points contain information such as geospatial location (the exact location in the real world) and the reflectance of the surface to be scanned. There are three main ways to digitally display data from a point cloud.

1. Point Cloud Processing Software-View, edit, create, save and manipulate data. With this kind of software, you basically have your own engineering department. Just add the data. These are some examples:

  • Pointools
  • I-Site Studio
  • AutoCad Civil 3D
  • Minesight

2. Multimedia files-Most point cloud data can be converted to image files (JPEG) and movies (AVI). These files are ideal for viewing surveys and visual inspections and can be opened on any computer. However, it cannot be rotated, panned, or zoomed, and measurements and volume calculations must be done manually.

3. Data Viewer-Point Cloud Data Viewer is usually free software that can be downloaded from the Internet and can display data in a 3D environment. It even provides some simple measurement functions. This section describes two data viewers that use very common file types: DWG TrueView (.dwg / .dxf) and Adobe Reader (.pdf). TrueView is an AutoCAD CAD viewer that can open and view files in .dxf and .dwg file formats. The viewer has some great tools for measuring distance, angle, area, volume, and more. We have found that datasets up to about 30,000 points work pretty well. Data providers can filter their data so that it can be viewed on this platform. Attempting to work with a larger point cloud or TIN model can slow down. TrueView works best with a relatively small set of points, but it can also display a triangulated irregular network (TIN).

DWG TrueView Download-Another way to view your model in 3D space is to use Adobe Reader version 7 or later. The reader can open and view .pdf documents with embedded atis cloud 3D objects. The graphic interface is very smooth. You can zoom, rotate, pan, change surface rendering, and turn layers on and off, but the reader doesn’t have measurement capabilities. If you have the full version of Adobe Acrobat, there are some more useful tools. The full version allows you to perform distance, perimeter, area and angle measurements.

Another very useful feature is the cross-section tool. It allows you to crop parts of the model based on any axis, arrangement, or orientation. Download Adobe Reader 9. Therefore, there are some very good tools available for viewing and measuring point clouds and 3D model data, whether free or cheap. Laser scan data providers should help you get the right tools. What are you looking for? Please scan!

Why not use cloud data storage?

Cloud data storage is the wave of the future. No more strictly storing documents and valuable information on your desktop computer or external drive. What is cloud data storage? The provider stores the data on a secure server accessible from the network so that it can be accessed from the Internet. With cloud data storage, you can access your files from anywhere you have access to the Internet. These files can contain anything stored on your computer, such as documents, photos, music, videos, music, and more. This gives employees the flexibility to work from home in many businesses and institutions. Cloud data storage no longer limits the size of emails when sharing large files. Just upload the file to the cloud and allow access to the file when you’re ready to share it.

There are several free cloud storage providers. The benefits of free cloud storage are clear. The first advantage is that it doesn’t cost money to store information in the cloud. One of the drawbacks is that most free cloud storage providers limit the amount of data they can store. Another drawback of using free cloud storage is that your data security may not be top notch. If you have very sensitive information that you are trying to store, it may be in your best interests to pay for a cloud storage service.