Visualizing big construction projects in detail with HERE Lidar Data

Disputes in the construction industry can run into millions of dollars. This Australian start-up is using HERE Lidar Data to give vital context from the project conception.

In 25 years working in construction, Paul Michielin has worked on some of the largest projects in Australia.

Over the course of his career, opportunities to improve the way that the industry manages projects became clearly visible.

Two-and-a-half years ago, Paul started SCAI Group to address this. The SCAI Group built the Keyframe platform, which is designed to manage complexities for projects using graphical and non-graphical data, and compliance. The Keyframe platform uses HERE Lidar Data to give valuable context to construction projects at all phases of the project lifecycle.

“In major projects, there can be a lot of complexities around compliance," Paul said. “What we've tried to do is simplify that immensely and offer a single project-wide immersive collaboration space."

Instead of searching through folders and PDFs, all project stakeholders can enter the 3D, spatial environment created by Keyframe, and share all 3D data amongst project team members. 3D graphical information and building information models are also included.

“Our purpose for signing the partnership with HERE was to get access to the 3D road lidar data, and offer this data to our users. Our users save time and money acquiring this data. Quite often, context data isn't acquired due to time and budget constraints," Paul explained.

“Lidar data is super useful for the full life cycle of the project."

Keyframe will also license this data to other clients in the architecture, engineering construction, utilities, and mining industries looking for a similar context.

“Let's be honest: compliance with ISO standards and other building regulations is difficult to get excited about," Paul explained.

“Culturally, project teams love to see progress and timelines being met. However, compliance often takes a back seat and generally surfaces towards the end of the project when things get really difficult. Keyframe facilitates progressive compliance to avoid the mad rush at the tail end of projects."

Lidar technology works by illuminating the target with a pulsed laser and measuring the reflection with a sensor to create highly accurate 3D images. Image credit: Keyframe.AI

Out of site

One of the best things about using HERE Lidar Data in this way is that teams can examine a site without having to go there physically.

Paul hopes the Keyframe platform will take away some of the complexity of project management and compliance and make it a more structured and practical process.

This is critical, as costs for non-compliance can run into millions of dollars.

“Contractors have huge liabilities around non-compliance," Paul said. "We would like to be known as the platform that is finally making it easy."

“A win-win situation is when the client and the asset owner get exactly what was on the contract, and the contractor achieves that with relative ease," he said.

This video shows how HERE Lidar Data is helping to advance autonomous driving.

About HERE Lidar Data

One of the advantages for Paul of HERE Lidar Data was that it can be bought off-the-shelf. His previous experience of lidar data was that it can be expensive to commission and take weeks or months before it is ready.

“We can get that data from HERE now within hours," he said.

HERE Lidar Data is collected by HERE-owned True Cars. This raw lidar data is then converted to industry-standard formats.

HERE True Cars collect raw lidar data from 50 countries.

It is also colorized using imagery captured by various cameras, to create highly accurate 3D depictions of streets and city areas. It can be ordered on here.com/platform, or through Keyframe.

Along with the construction industry, HERE Lidar Data can be used by insurance companies following disasters or accidents, public utilities and telecommunications companies looking to select sites for new infrastructure, among many other uses.

For Keyframe, this is just the start of the journey. The company is working with HERE Technologies to create co-industry solutions that will be game-changing.

“It's going to get really interesting," Paul said.

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