MAKERERE UNIVERSITY

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING DESIGN ART & TECHNOLOGY

SCHOOL OF BUILT ENVIRONMENT
DEPARTMENT OF GEOMATICS & LAND MANAGEMENT

Bachelors of Land Surveying and Geomatics

INCEPTION REPORT

Project Name 3D Laser scanning of the swimming pool facility, Makerere university
Author Group Three
Client Estates & Works department, Makerere University
Date 24th/02/2020
 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTON

Inception Report Purpose

The purpose of this document is to adequately define the project and provide a basis for its
management and assessment of its overall success.

The project is identified as “3D Laser scanning of the swimming pool facility, Makerere
university”.

Background.

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.

Business case.

Studies on built up environment are very difficult because it is nearly impossible for researcher
to achieve the target location. How to enhance the efficiency and precision of built up
environment study has become a very important problem. Traditional surveying methods and
digital photogrammetry can be used in the study; however, they have complicated processing
procedures, and their precision declines, and also demand a lot of field investigations. In order to
resolve it, a new study technology has to be adopted, which should be characterized by high
efficiency, precision, and applicability. The appearance of 3D laser scanning technology is one
of the most important technology revolutions in surveying and mapping field. It can be widely
used in many interrelated fields, such as engineering constructions and 3D measurements, owing
to its prominent characteristics of the high efficiency and high precision.
Objectives of the project.

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.

Project scope.

The project will be carried out on the swimming pool facility of Makerere university located
along the pool road. The project is expected to be completed within 8 weeks, with all the
deliverables, that is to say, a 3D model, a topographic map, floor plans and a layout plan. The
project team comprises of eight people.

Project organization chart.

Figure 1: Project organisation chart.

 CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY.

Figure 2: shows a methodology flow chart.

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

This is a very important part where the site to be surveyed is visited before field work proceeds
and this helps in proper planning of the survey as far as machines to be used, labor needed and
costing of the survey are concerned. It also enables the project team to know the existing
information on the ground that can help during the survey.

The main purpose for this preliminary survey is for taking survey in a particular area about its
weather conditions, map and terrain. Other benefits of this step include the following;

 To explore the site conditions with infrastructure availability.

 The results of reconnaissance survey are used to develop the plan, which is used during
the execution of the project.

During a reconnaissance survey, the following material will be used;

 Acceptance letter from the Client (Estates Department). This will enable 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.

Field Planning.

This a very important stage while executing GPS works because even under a full constellation
of 24 GPS satellites, there exists a period when only four satellites are visible above a particular
elevation angle, which may not be enough for some GPS works. For example, in urban and
forested areas, the receiver’s sky window is reduced as a result of obstruction caused by high-rise
buildings and the trees where in this case the project site (Swimming pool facility) is located in
an area that had a lot of trees and hence a need for planning before fieldwork.

Because satellite geometry changes over time, this satellite visibility problem could be overcome
by selecting a suitable observation time which ensures a minimum number of satellites and a
particular maximum DOP value and this was achieved by carrying out GNSS mission planning.
GNSS mission planning is achieved using one of the mission planning software packages
(Trimble GNSS planning online), where a number of plots to help in planning the GPS survey
can be 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.

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.

Field work (GNSS survey)

This is a stage where the GPS survey will be executed in the field and this done mainly to
determine coordinates of points that will be used in the georeferencing of the 3D scans.

And in this case, one of the receivers will be set up at a control point of known coordinates most
probably 71Y97 at Makerere tank hill whose coordinates are 451490.209m E, 37686.197m N as
another receiver will be set up on a point whose coordinates are sought of. The GNSS
observations are planned to be made for about 30 minutes since the baseline (distance between
the receivers) is very short (<1 Km). The choice of 30 minutes was done because the observation
time is mainly dependent on the baseline, satellite geometry and number of satellite visibility.

Then after Trimble Business Software version 4.1 will be used for post processing of the raw
data that will be downloaded from the receivers in order to yield the coordinates of the extended
controls.

3D LASER SCANNING EXERCISE

After GPS survey, 3D laser scanning exercise will be executed using a FARO 3D laser scanner.

Faro 3D laser scanner

The FARO Focus3D is a high-speed Terrestrial Laser Scanner (TLS) offering the most efficient

method for 3D measurement and 3D image documentation available.
The FARO Laser Scanner stores the recorded scans on a removable SD card. This memory card
can also be used to create backups of the scanner settings, to import scanner settings, and to
install firmware updates.

The following will be the steps taken while executing the Laser Scanning exercise on site;

1. Setting up the tripod

The scanner performs best if the base on which the scanner rests is absolutely motionless. Any
vibration or oscillation in the tripod or the ground on which the tripod stands can reduce the
accuracy of the scan.

And when working with the laser scanner, two aspects must always be considered:

• Due to long recording times and high data-quality requirements, the tripod must be adjusted to
be as stable as possible.

• Because a laser scanner moves during operation, the tripod must always be as rigid as possible.

To achieve stability and rigidity, the following is observed:

 Extend the tripod as little as possible. Less height means more accuracy.
 Standard working height: the tripod has four leg segments, pull out the first three fully
and leave the fourth one inserted. This results in a working height ofapprox.148cm,
which allows an ergonomic operation of the scanner.
 After you set the tripod on the ground, check the leg latches. If any of the latches are
loose, spread the legs slightly until the latches cannot be wiggled. This ensures that the
tripod is firmly planted on the ground, and unlikely to shake or vibrate during scanning.
2. Mounting the instrument on the tripod.

This is where a FARO 3D laser scanner is placed on top of the tripod where it’s firmly screwed
so that it’s tight enough in a way that it cannot get off when it starts scanning objects.

3. Switching the on the FARO Laser Scanner.

This is where the scanner is switched on by pressing the scanner's on/off button which starts its
booting process.
And when the FARO Laser Scanner is ready, the LEDs will stop flashing and will illuminate
constantly blue, the Home screen of the scanner's controller software will appear on the
integrated touch screen where the project will be created and it’s settings configured.

4. Setting the Scanning Parameters

Firstly, the project is created and then appropriate settings/scanning parameters for the project
are made. Scanning parameters like resolution, quality among others are the parameters used by
the scanner for recording the scan data. Therefore, the settings to be made for this project include
resolution, quality, scan with colour and scan profiles.

Resolution determines the density of the scan points where by high resolution implies more scan
points which gives a sharper image.

Quality determines the length of the time a point is captured whereby a higher quality setting
causes the scanner to take multiple measurements for the same point and average the results of
those measurements to record that point.

Scan with Colour - When this parameter is switched on, the scanner will also take colour photos
of the scanned environment with the integrated colour camera. These photos will be taken right
after the laser scan and will be used in the point cloud processing software to automatically
colorize the recorded scan data.

There are two ways to set the scanning parameters and these are;

 By changing them manually

 By selecting a scan profile which is a predefined set of scanning parameters.

Scan Duration, Scan File Size are usually approximated basing on the chosen scan parameters
and settings made.

5. Starting a Scan

In this step, scanning starts by pressing on the Start Scan button on the Home screen of the
controller software. Since the scanner is turning and the mirror unit is rotating with high speed
during the scanning process, it’s better to ensure that the scanner can move freely and that no
objects can touch the mirror unit.
When the scan process starts, the laser of the scanner will be switched ON and the scanning view
will be displayed. The scanner's LEDs blink red as long as the laser of the scanner is switched
ON. During scanning, the scanner rotates clockwise by 180° but in case the scans being taken is
being scanned with color, then the scanner will continue to turn 360° to take the pictures.

During the scanning process, the scan can be paused using the scan pause button. This can be
done in situations where one is trying to avoid scanning a moving object, such as a car.
Resuming the scan is also possible by tapping the resume scanning button.

6. Data transfer from the Scanner.

Scan projects are stored on the SD card which is then removed from the scanner and then put in a
PC for transferring the captured raw scans.

PROCESSING OF DATA

After field work has been executed, data obtained will then be processed using appropriate
software. For the case of static data, Trimble Business Centre 4.1 will be used to process the data
so as to obtain the coordinates of the occupied stations.

For the case of raw scans, Autodesk Recap will be used to register scans so that they can be
merged together, there after they can be imported into AutoCAD Civil 3D 2018 to develop floor
and layout plans.

Merged scans are also used in AutoCAD Civil 3D 2018 to create a surface which is a pre-
requisite to the production of 3D model in AutoCAD Architecture software.

Merged scans are also used in Vision Lidar 2019 software for georeferencing so that the scans
are assigned real world geographical coordinates. This is achieved in a way that the extended
controls whose coordinates have been obtained through static data processing in TBC can be
identified in the scans and then be assigned ground coordinates.

DELIVERABLES

1. A topographic map

A topographic map is a detailed and accurate two-dimensional representation of natural and

human-made features on the Earth's surface.
Topographic map will be used to show the location of the different features and their height
information which could be used for planning during construction.

This will be produced using AutoCAD Civil 3D 2018 software.

2. A 3D model.

3D model is a mathematical representation of any surface of an object in three dimensions via

specialized software.

A 3D model will be produced using AutoCAD Architecture software 2018 version.

3. Floor plan

A floor plan is a drawing to scale, showing a view from above, of the relationships between
rooms, spaces, traffic patterns, and other physical features at one level of a structure. Dimensions
are usually drawn between the walls to specify room sizes and wall lengths.

This plan will be produced using AutoCAD Civil 3D software 2018 version.

4. Layout plan

A site layout plan shows a detailed layout of the whole site and the relationship of the proposed
works with the boundary of the property and nearby roads.

This plan will be produced using AutoCAD Civil 3D software 2018 version.

VALIDATION.

We shall validate the deliverables by comparing them with the actual objects on ground. For
example, comparing the dimensions on the finished layout plan with the field measurements
taken using a tape, comparing the topographic map with the existing features on ground.
PROJECT WORK PLAN.
Objectives. Key Tasks
1. Producing 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 the layout plan of the
facilities in the area
Lead person
 Collecting cloud point data through laser All group
scanning members
 Registering the scans collected.
 Cleaning the processed scans to remain with All group
the terrain data only (Removing all features members
that are not the ground)
 Creating a surface for the topographic map.
 Control extension
 Importing the scans in AutoCAD then joining All group
the outlines of the buildings. members

The Gantt chart and resources chart are attached in Appendix 1.

The risk breakdown structure has been attached as Appendix 2.

The project management finance and procurement plans are in Appendix 3.

The Project Communication Plan is in Appendix 4.

The Human Recourse Management plan is in Appendix 5.

The monitoring and Evaluation Plan is in Appendix 6.

The Technical report is in Appendix 7.