REALITY CAPTURE KNOWLEDGE · POINT CLOUDS
Yes. To a large extent, the final deliverable determines what kind of point cloud is actually required.
A dataset intended for CAD documentation does not necessarily need the same characteristics as one prepared for detailed mesh generation, BIM, measurements, visualisation or integration into another platform.
Point density is only one consideration.
The required format, dataset size, organisation and downstream software environment also matter. It is important to understand who will use the data next, what information they need to extract and how they will continue working with it.
For this reason, I prefer to think about the final use of the data before deciding what the dataset should look like.
The deliverable should help define the data, not the other way around.
SEE IT IN PRACTICE
For a nationwide tourism office documentation project, processed point clouds formed the basis for CAD floor plans and supplementary Revit visualisations.
ABOUT THIS KNOWLEDGE SERIES
Reality Capture Knowledge is where I share short, practical answers to questions that come up across reality capture, point cloud processing and geospatial workflows.
The answers are based on more than 15 years of hands-on experience working with spatial data, field acquisition and point cloud processing.
Roland Kriston
Independent Reality Capture & Geospatial Specialist