Skip to main content

Laser mapping speeds up survey measurement

British scanning company 3D Laser Mapping is hoping to benefit from a £3 million ($5 million) fund announced recently by the UK government for police forces to purchase laser scanning technology for accident recording and investigation.
February 21, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
British scanning company 1639 3D Laser Mapping is hoping to benefit from a £3 million ($5 million) fund announced recently by the UK government for police forces to purchase laser scanning technology for accident recording and investigation.

Use of scanners and point cloud software to collect data is speeding up traditional survey measurement and, on motorways particularly, this can save hours of disruption when traffic is held up, a major benefit to the economy. Laser scanning works in low light, night conditions and bad weather and collects far more data than a total station.

3D Laser Mapping has already supplied one of the UK's road death investigation units with equipment, in this case a Riegl VZ-400 which can produce high quality graphics and detailed plans of collision scenes for court use.

The company claims greater detail and colour compared to other laser scanners.

The VZ-400 has echo digitisation and online waveform analysis for a high performance with accuracies claimed of 5mm at ranges of up to 600m measuring up to 122,000 points/sec in a 100 by 360° field of view.

The evaluation of multiple targets combined with a reliable, robust and lightweight construction makes the VZ-400 also suited to civil engineering the firm says.



















For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Measures needed to increase awareness of cyclists
    May 4, 2012
    The latest official data shows a continuing improvement in road safety statistics in both France and the UK. However the data also reveals worrying trends in accidents concerning vulnerable road users. Department for Transport figures for 2010 have revealed a 17% drop in road fatalities to 1,850. But 111 pedal cyclists died in 2010, compared with 104 in 2009, with cyclist fatalities in capital London of particular concern. The DfT believes that the severe winter weather, lower traffic in general due to th
  • Leica Geosystems develops machine control
    November 29, 2012
    An array of sophisticated machine control and surveying tools are coming to market from Leica Geosystems. One of the key developments is an addition to its iCON range in the form of its iCONtrol package. The firm says that this offers contractors a portfolio of powerful machine control solutions that can communicate with iCONstruct sensors on site and the iCON office software. This customisable and versatile solution suits use in grading and excavating segment and can be used as a control system for constru
  • When the rain comes
    July 18, 2012
    Statistics show that wet weather and the dark is not the best mix for driving, but road markings offer a safety solution While good road markings are essential any time of the day, it is perhaps at night when roads are wet that they can offer extra guidance. Statistics are said to reveal that an estimated 50% of all accidents happen during the night when it rains but such conditions occur only 10% of the time and when there are usually less vehicles on the road. Indeed, at the 1st Road Marking Symposium hel
  • All-new road markings on world’s highways
    June 28, 2013
    Road marking manufacturers have many innovative new products either currently being used on major highways or set to be made available within the next couple of years. Guy Woodford reports. Daan Roosegaarde, an artist, and Hans Goris, a manager at Dutch construction and infrastructure firm Heijmans, are developing intriguing new products for the road markings market. One innovation involves painting road markings with glow-in-the-dark paint.