Computational Methods of Acquisition and Processing of 3D Point Cloud Data for Construction Applications

Abstract

3D point cloud data from sensing technologies such as 3D laser scanning and photogrammetry are able to capture the 3D surface geometries of target objects in an accurate and efficient manner. Due to these advantages, the construction industry has been capturing 3D point cloud data of construction sites, construction works, and construction equipment to enable better decision making in construction project management. The captured point cloud data are utilized to reconstruct 3D building models, check construction quality, monitor construction progress, improve construction safety etc. throughout the project lifecycle from design to construction and facilities management phase. This paper aims to review the state-of-the-art methods to acquire and process 3D point cloud data for construction applications. The different approaches to 3D point cloud data acquisition are reviewed and compared including 3D laser scanning, photogrammetry, videogrammetry, RGB-D camera, and stereo camera. Furthermore, the processing methods of 3D point cloud data are reviewed according to the four common processing procedures including (1) data cleansing, (2) data registration, (3) data segmentation, and (4) object recognition. For each processing procedure, the different processing methods and algorithms are compared and discussed in detail, which provides a useful guidance to both researchers and industry practitioners for adopting point cloud data in the construction industry.