Laser scanning technology and BIM in construction management education

Abstract

Laser scanning technology has emerged as a useful tool in documenting existing conditions of buildings. The main application for such documentation is to assess current as-built conditions of existing, mostly historical, buildings. The technology can also be used as an integral part of construction progress documentation in new projects. In order to equip students with knowledge on the latest technologies in the industry, laser scanning was introduced to students in a BIM course. Students were given a thorough demonstration on how the equipment functions. After that, several campus buildings’ exteriors were scanned. Students had the chance to see the scanning in action. More importantly, the generated point-clouds from the scanner were given to students as part of the final project. Five teams were formed and each team was given a set of floor plans, with minimal details, of an existing campus building. The teams were then asked to take measurements from the point-clouds and model the buildings in Autodesk Revit. The lack of marked elevation drawings did not prevent the teams from modeling the buildings fairly accurately. The point-clouds gave the students a large amount of information that were lacking in the provided documents. Even though the learning curve for navigating such point-clouds was a bit steep, the extracted information helped the students better understand the buildings’ envelopes and appreciate the real value of laser scanning technology.