Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Using Scan Data to Model a Cell Tower in SketchUp

Below are a few examples of a cell tower project completed with the Topcon GLS-1000, Topcon ScanMaster, and Google SketchUp.


Four scans were captured. The scanner was positioned on one of two control points using occupation/backsight procedures.
The control point coordinates were obtained with GPS so that the final model could be georeferenced once completed.
High resolution scans of the tower were capture for detail while the surrounding building was scanned at a lower resolution for general dimensions.

The scans were registered and post processed in ScanMaster. Different views were created of the tower to break it down into segments for measurement.

Measurements from the scan data was used with Google Sketchup to build the 3D model.

GPS coordinates for the control points were used to reference the model for import to Google Earth.