As-Built documentation is an important part of the construction process
As-Built drawings need to be created for construction sites to hand off to other trades. This process is generally time-consuming, tedious and not conducive to efficiency. It requires one engineer and one assistant engineer with an Electronic Distance Measuring (EDM) device going around the site to collect points for all the completed new constructed elements.
This data is then processed in CAD software to produce As-Built drawings showing for each collected point the deviation from design intended position. If this distance is greater than the structure tolerance this needs to be notified to the design team so actions can be taken to retify it.
As-built drawings are usually left behind as time-consuming process that ties up site resources
As-built drawings are usually left behind as site teams cannot keep up with the process of this technical documentation. Site engineers are usually the ones tasked with creating these drawings and they have to work in tandem with other site personnel. This is a time-consuming process that ties up site resources for a long period of time. The points should be collected at the same height for each element, but this is not always possible as the operator needs to move the EDM around the site to capture all the data.
Point clouds provide and efficient way to capture As-Buit data
By using point clouds, construction companies can monitor their site without needing to make daily site visits. These point clouds are created by scanning the site with lasers. They are then processed by a computer and orientated in relation to the local coordinates of the construction site. We can then either produce As-Built data for constructed elements or provide slices of the point cloud showing all the elements built at that point. By using a point cloud slice, all points are taken at the same level to correctly show site condition. This file can then be imported in AutoCad and then simply edited to produce the final as-built. Scanning the site is a great way to capture data. There are many advantages to scanning over surveying and measuring, such as cost effectiveness and efficiency. Surveyors are required to constantly stop what they are doing and read notes from their survey book. In addition, with a scanner, an entire site can be scanned in a fraction of the time that it would take one person to measure it by hand.
