Looking Back to See How Far We’ve Come

We thought one of the first blog posts on our new website should be a nostalgic look back at the past. Not only to remember what we used to do and how we used to do it, but also to appreciate just how far the technology and our workflows have come since then.

We have been working with laser scanners since the early 2000s, when they were first introduced to the survey world. As with most emerging technologies, significant advances in capability followed in a remarkably short period of time. The scanners became smaller, lighter, faster and smarter, transforming what was possible in the field.

Photogrammetry has undergone a similarly dramatic evolution. Taking photogrammetric photographs to document a site was once a time-consuming and expensive process that required specialised cameras and stereo plotters to produce usable results. While the core principles date back to the 1850s, digital photogrammetry only really matured during the 1990s. Then, throughout the 2010s, advances in computer vision made the process significantly faster and highly automated.

The real breakthrough came with the integration of laser scanning and photogrammetry. What were once largely independent disciplines have evolved into a combined, automated reality-capture ecosystem. By fusing the geometric precision of laser measurement with the rich visual textures of digital photography, it became possible to rapidly create highly accurate and visually complete 3D assets in a way that is both time and cost effective.

The development of software such as RealityScan in 2016 (known in those early days as RealityCapture), particularly following its acquisition by Epic Games, has further democratised the processing of photogrammetry and laser scanning data, making the creation of usable digital real-world assets accessible to a much wider audience.

We frequently walk past Steps Cottage in Bishop’s Stortford, particularly when we’re en route to our favourite authentic Italian wine bar on North Street. Back in 2019, it seemed the perfect subject to showcase the integrated laser scanning and photogrammetry workflow we had developed for our clients.

The project proved so successful that both RealityScan and the Laser Scanning Forum (the online encyclopaedia for all scanning nerds) showcased the results as an example of definitive best practice. Looking back now, if we were to revisit the cottage using our current workflow, we would undoubtedly add aerial data capture into the mix. Even so, we think the results from 2019 still stand up remarkably well to scrutiny.

What do you think?