MAKERERE UNIVERSITY

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING, DESIGN, ART AND TECHNOLOGY

SCHOOL OF BUILT ENVIRONMENT

DEPARTMENT OF GEOMATICS AND LAND MANAGEMENT

BACHELOR OF SCIENCE IN LAND SURVEYING AND GEOMATICS

PROJECT: 3D LASER SCANNING OF THE SWIMMING POOL FACILITY.

FINAL TECHNICAL REPORT (GROUP THREE)

PREPARED BY:

ORISHABA ANDREW

&

NATUHWERA PRINCE.

CLIENT: ESTATE AND WORKS DEPARTMENT, MAKERERE UNIVERSITY.

3D Laser Scanning is a non-contact, non-destructive technology that digitally captures the shape
of physical objects using a line of laser light. 3D laser scanners create “point clouds” of data
from the surface of an object. In other words, 3D laser scanning is a way to capture a physical
object’s exact size and shape into the computer world as a digital 3-dimensional representation.

3D laser scanners measure fine details and capture free-form shapes to quickly generate highly
accurate point clouds. 3D laser scanning is ideally suited to the measurement and inspection of
contoured surfaces and complex geometries which require massive amounts of data for their
accurate description and where doing this is impractical with the use of traditional measurement
methods or a touch probe. 3D mapping has become one of the fanciest and up to date practices
for most of developing Departments.

OBJECTIVES OF THE PROJECT

As per the expectations of the client as stated in the TORs, the objectives for this exercise are as
follows;

1. To produce a 3D model of the swimming pool facility.

2. To produce a topographic map of the area.

3. To produce floor plans of the existing structures and a layout plan of the study area.

INSTRUMENTATION

During the execution of this project, the following equipment were used;

 A 3D laser scanner (Faro scanner) with its tripod stands.

Figure 1: A flow chart showing methodology.

It is the preliminary survey that is done before the actual field work for a certain project or
survey commences.

The project area was visited and this helped in proper planning of the project as far as machines
that were to be used, labour and costing are concerned.

The main purpose for this preliminary survey was to take a quick survey around the swimming
pool area, so as to know more about its weather conditions, map and terrain. Other benefits of
this survey were;

● Exploring the site conditions with infrastructure availability.

● The results of the reconnaissance survey were used to develop the plan, which was used
during the execution of the project.

During a reconnaissance survey, the following material were used;

● Acceptance letter from the Client (Estates Department). This enabled the project team to
access the site without disturbance from the relevant stakeholders (Swimming pool
management).
● Paper and a pen to draft a sketch plan of the area to be able to plan for the instrument
positions when it comes to the execution of the project.

GNSS Field Planning.

This kind of planning is so important because it enables one to determine the suitable time and
day when the GPS survey can be executed basing on various plots as mentioned above thus
minimizing on the effect of the ionosphere which contributes a larger portion (about 50%) to
the total errors that affect GPS positions.
GNSS mission planning was carried out on 25th February 2020, and was achieved using a
mission planning software package (Trimble GNSS planning online), where a number of plots
to help in planning the GPS survey were obtained and these include a sky plot showing the
user’s sky window as a series of concentric circles, satellite availability plot showing the total
number of visible satellites above a certain mask angle and the satellite geometry plot showing
the dilution of precision (DOP) values that depict the satellite geometry.

From the plots that were obtained from the online planning service, the right time for the
fieldwork was found out to be around 10 am, however the machines to be used were not readily
available at that given time and this made the field work to be executed at 2:30 pm which was
also a favourable time based on the statistics of the various plots obtained according to Trimble
GNSS Planning online service. Therefore, the survey was executed at 2:30 pm because the
satellite availability at that time was still good as shown in Figure 2, also DOP valves at that
time were good (HDOP of 0.7 as shown in Figure 3) implying the satellites in space at that time
were widely spread from each other giving a good geometry it was found out that ionospheric
effects were not significant as shown in Figure 4 and finally the satellite visibility was also good
as shown in Figure 5.

Figure 2: Satellite availability

Figure 4: Ionospheric index

Static GNSS field work

This was carried out on 25th February 2020.

During execution of the project, one of the receivers (SN 0592) was set up at a control point,
71Y97 at Makerere tank hill whose coordinates are 451490.209m E, 37686.197m N as the other
two receivers were set up on points of unknown coordinates, with one point being inside the
swimming pool facility and another one was outside the facility.

The GNSS observations were made for only 30 minutes and after the field work, raw data was
downloaded from the receivers using a data cable and a flash disk so that it’s processed.

The following observations were made at each station during this static survey;

● Date of observation

● Measuring of the instrument height (Slant height).

● Recording of the receiver serial number.

● End time of the observation

This exercise involved all group members and was successfully completed.

3D Laser scanning field work

The exercise started on 26th February 2020, and was conducted for three days.

This started by obtaining the equipment from the Department of Geomatics and Land
Management and this was handed to the project manager by Mr. Akanga Arthur.

Then the project team headed to site to execute the project and this involved a series of
activities which include;

Arrival on site: This is where the project team arrived on site and the project manager made a
brief communication to the stakeholders at the swimming pool facility in order to be able to
understand the activity that was to be undertaken on their facility. This involved provision of
the letter to the Sports Office to make all relevant stakeholders aware of the work to be
undertaken by the group.

Training of the Project team: This involved giving the project members a deep introduction on
how to use the equipment in various working modes that include indoor and outdoor modes
with various scan parameters. As a result, all the project members were able to appreciate how
to use the equipment to be able to take measurements.

Starting to take measurements: Based on the reconnaissance that was made prior to the field
work, suitable points where the equipment would be set up were already selected and therefore
it was set up on those points one at a time. The tripod legs for the equipment were spread on the
ground and then the machine was set up on top of the tripod and it was switched on. It was then
levelled until the bubble on the controller software was at the center. The project was then
created in the equipment and the scan parameters for the projects were made accordingly. The
scan parameters made include Quality(4X), resolution (1/8) and the outdoor profile above 20
meters. After making appropriate configurations, the first scan was then started and this lasted
for about 7 minutes depending on the configurations that were made.
After the scan was done, the machine was then switched off, packed and then moved to the next
station where it was again levelled and other settings remained as they were made for the entire
project. The same procedure was done for 5 points on site and every point was handled by a
different person to allow each and every member to be able to participate in the project
execution stage.

This was the end of the day, and the same procedures were repeated for the next two days until
the entire swimming pool facility was captured.

Problems faced during the laser scanning activity

Moving objects. This was the major problem during the project execution where by
moving objects most especially cars made it difficult to access some positions where to set up
equipment

Mitigation: This was overcome by proper planning through identification of other suitable
positions where to set up the machine in order to achieve overlap between successive scans.
DATA PROCESSING.

During the COVID-19 period, the time schedule for the execution of the project was greatly
affected and this tasked the technical managers to devise new methodology and new ways of
how to continue with the execution of the project without physical meeting of the group
members.
The following activities were carried out;

Zoom meetings: Group members were encouraged and advised to start adopting the new
norm of using online conferencing platforms like zoom and google meet. As a result, group
members were given a period of one week to interact with the zoom and google meet
platforms in order to be able to fully get an understanding of how they operate. After the
scheduled time for learning the platforms, most of the group members preferred to use zoom
over google meet and all the members were able to use the platform very well.
Training: Various zoom meetings were held and the group members were trained on how to
use the software required to obtain the project deliverables and these included ArchiCAD,
AutoCAD Civil 3D and Autodesk Revit.
A few of the group members never had the necessary software installed on their computers and
as a result, the links for installation files together with the tutorials to enable installations were
provided to team members and they were successful through the installation process.

DELIVERABLES
With reference to the TOR’s attached in the appendix as provided by the client, the required
deliverables were all achieved;

● 3D point scans.
After data collection (3D Laser scanning process), raw scans were exported from the SD card
of the 3D Laser Scanner and transferred to the PC.
Using Autodesk ReCap software, the scans were imported into a new project and various
operations were made on the raw scans.
Operations made on the raw scans in Autodesk ReCap are illustrated as shown below.
After importing the individual raw scans, data registration was done so that all the raw scans
taken at different scan locations could be merged together to form a continuous visualisation of
the scanned area rather than the visualisation of only one scan at a time.
All scans were registered successfully and then indexed to give a unified file containing all the
scans merged together.
After indexing the scans, the project was launched so that the unwanted elements(noise) in the
scans could be cleaned.
The project was then exported to provide the required files necessary for creation of other
deliverables.
● Floor plan.

The floor plan was also produced with the help of Graphisoft ArchiCAD software.

However for the floor plan, data was cleaned again in Autodesk ReCap software to remain with
only structures which was later exported to another file and then the floor plans were extracted
from the exported file with only buildings.

● Layout plan.

The layout plan was also produced with the help of AutoCAD Civil 3D software.
 ● Topographic map.

The floor plan was also produced with the help of AutoCAD Civil 3D software.

In this case, the buildings were cleaned from the point clouds as the topographic map depicts
the nature of the terrain using contours. However the buildings were shown on the topographic
map in a 2D format (digitised).

● 3D model.

During the production of the 3D model, the point cloud data was split into two sections (upper
block and lower block) because different building blocks were at different elevations and as a
result the models could not be obtained with the buildings of different elevations being in the
same drawing.

The point cloud data for different blocks were exported using Autodesk Recap in a .e57 file
format which is supported by Graphisoft ArchiCAD software.

The exported point cloud data from Autodesk ReCap were then used as an input in Graphisoft
ArchiCAD software for creation of the 3D model. The 3D model is composed of the 3D
objects that were created including doors, windows, walls (beams), supporting poles and
staircases and these were created using Graphisoft ArchiCAD software together with Autodesk
Revit software.

CHALLENGES

● During data processing, there was a lack of a strong computer capable of handling data
processing of the huge amounts of points in the point cloud files.
However, this issue was solved through hiring a strong computer to manage the processing of
the large volumes of point cloud.
Together with the finance manager, arrangements were made and funds necessary for hiring a
computer were raised by every group member and finally the computer to use for data
processing was obtained.
LESSONS LEARNT
 All project members were able to appreciate how to work together as a team in order to
accomplish our project. Therefore, this improved our project management skills
regardless of the various departments that were created in the team as all members were
able to execute their tasks towards the success of the project.
 The team members learnt how to execute a Laser scanning project right from the
planning stages up to completion of the project.
 The team members gained knowledge about the relevance of 3D laser scanning in the
field of land surveying and geomatics.

CONCLUSION
 The project was successfully completed with all the objectives achieved as per the
expectations of the client.
 The floor plan, layout plan, topographic map, point clouds and a 3D model were all
achieved.

RECOMMENDATIONS
 From this project, it’s advised that 3D Laser scanning technology should be explored
more as it's of great use in various sectors with the construction and surveying sector
inclusive as it enables keeping inventory of plans and the 3D nature of the as-built sites
that can be used for object reconstruction incase of any catastrophic event in the future.
It’s therefore recommended that 3D laser scanning should be done for all buildings in
Makerere University in order to preserve their plans and 3D models for architectural use
in the future in case of any disaster that claims any of the buildings.