February 19, 2014 -- ZEB1 the world’s first truly mobile, hand held, rapid laser mapping system has been used to document one of the largest heritage buildings in Budapest. Operated by Hungarian engineering company Burken the ZEB1 was used in conjunction with traditional terrestrial laser scanners to create architectural documentation of National Institution of Mental Health and Neurology. Covering more than 40,000 square metres of indoor space in grounds of 40.6 hectares Burken had just over one month to complete the entire project from start to finish on behalf of property management company Kiving Kft. 

“Even with more than 10 years’ experience of reverse engineering projects the challenge of documenting one of the capital’s largest heritage buildings in just 32 days was daunting,” commented Lajos Kandra, Owner and Managing Director, Burken Ltd. “We had just a few days to scan an indoor area of around 40,000 square metres comprising of over 2000 individual rooms with many physical obstacles in addition to the outside façade and woodland.”

“While our terrestrial Riegl laser scanners were perfect for outdoors scanning of the woods and building facades, and even some of the larger indoor rooms, ZEB1 proved easier to use for scanning indoors.  Capturing data using the ZEB1 is also fast as the device requires no set up and scanning can be completed at a normal walking pace.”

Burken were commissioned by Kiving to create architectural documentation of the historic National Institution of Mental Health and Neurology building to support future restoration and record building condition for Facility management. With a total project duration of just 32 days Burken had to complete scanning within very tight timescales. Full project delivery included building plans at a scale of 1:200 for the entire project site.

“The data captured by the terrestrial scanners was in a global coordinate system so the ability to integrate the ZEB1 data within this global reference was another major factor in its selection,” concluded Kandra. “In fact I would go as far as saying that where time is an issue – both for data capture and data processing, ZEB1 will now be our first choice.”

Developed by CSIRO and commercialised by UK based 3D Laser Mapping, ZEB1 uses robotic technology called Simultaneous Localisation and Mapping (SLAM). The ZEB1 system includes a lightweight laser scanner mounted on a simple spring mechanism, which continuously scans as the operator walks through the environment. As the scanner loosely oscillates about the spring it produces a rotation that converts 2D laser measurements into 3D fields of view. Its ability to self-localise makes ZEB1 ideally suited for use indoors, underground and in other covered environments, where traditional solutions that utilise GPS don’t function well.

CONTACTS:

Charlie Whyman, Email Contact, +44 (0)1949 838 004

www.3dlasermapping.com