3D Aerial Laser Maps Add Value to BIM Projects

3D models produced from aerial laser scanners are being used by survey company Greenhatch Group to help inform a range of building information modelling (BIM) projects. Downloaded from aerial mapping company Bluesky’s online Mapshop, the highly accurate and detailed models are utilised within the group’s BIM software from Autodesk, providing real-world context to measured survey and laser scanned data. The Bluesky height (Lidar) data also gives Greenhatch up-to-date and accurate information for areas that may be inaccessible or otherwise out of bounds. 

The Bluesky photogrammetric models are invaluable when integrated alongside models produced on the ground from either traditional survey techniques or, more recently, terrestrial laser scanners, commented Stuart Chadwick, BIM manager at Derby based Greenhatch Group. The data provides context for buildings we have surveyed and modelled, and gives data for areas that previously were not been able to access.

Early adopter

Greenhatch Group is a well-established survey practice with nearly thirty years’ experience in completing topographical, building, engineering and utility surveys across a range of industry sectors. Greenhatch utilises the very latest surveying technology to ensure highly efficient workflows whilst ensuring data quality and accuracy for its high-profile clients, including English Heritage and Historic Scotland, for example. Greenhatch Group was also an early adopter of BIM, defined as a process involving the generation and management of digital representations of physical and functional characteristics of places, and described by the UK Government as ‘the first truly global digital construction technology’.

The datasets used by Greenhatch Group are purchased from Bluesky’s online Mapshop, which offers complete nationwide coverage of aerial photography from multiple epochs, 3D models (Digital Terrain and Surface Models DTM / DSM), Lidar data, thermal mapping and the National Tree Map. Visitors to the Bluesky Mapshop can also download free of charge geological, land cover and flood maps, as well as places of interest, census areas and collections of themed data such as farming, marine and habitats.