Create point measurements

For projects that do not have geocentric data, you must first create GPS benchmarks. The instructions that follow will take you through how to publish the .xml file required to enable the use of the GIS feature.

Using the Point Cloud Manager Measurement tool kit, create point measurements inside the Point Cloud Manager dataset that correspond to the known GPS coordinates.

Note: A minimum of 3 point measurements with corresponding known GPS coordinates are required to publish GIS information for Viewer. The three point measurements are required to form a triangle such that it spans the entire dataset and covers all points within that dataset.

The following image displays the Point Measurements created in the Measurements panel:

The workflow that follows can be used only for a rough estimate of the alignment of points, as the values obtained from Google Maps and the elevation finder tools are not accurate. For precise positioning, it is advised to use a GPS device while scanning a site area.

Create a point measurement by switching to the BubbleView of a particular scan and selecting a point to measure. To do this:

1. In the Orthographic view or in the Perspective view, right-click a given point and select Show BubbleView. The BubbleView image of the scan is displayed.

2. Under Tools, select Point and then click a point on the BubbleView that you wish to measure. The x, y, z coordinates of that point are displayed in the Point Measurement workspace.

3. Then, drag the Point Measurement from the Measurements Workspace into the Project Measurements area to save the measurement. You may rename the Point Measurement to a relevant name.

4. Compare the BubbleView image of the point selected to the image on Google Maps by entering the name of the scan location in the Search box and navigating to the specific location using Browse Street View images.

5. After you have identified the location, note down the latitude and longitude values.

   To obtain the latitude and longitude values, you could either make a note of the values from the browser address bar or duplicate the Google Maps tab on your browser. Then, on the duplicate tab, right-click a point around the scan location that matches the exact location in the BubbleView and select What's here?. The latitude and longitude values are displayed at the bottom of the screen.

6. After you have obtained the latitude and longitude values, you can then use these values to find the height in meters from sources such as http://veloroutes.org/elevation/.

   When you have obtained the elevation for one point, you can estimate the elevation for the second and third points by taking the difference of the measurements. For example, consider points 1 and 2 that have z coordinates of 30.46 and 31.67, the difference being one meter approximately. So if the elevation for point 1 is 31.2, the elevation for point 2 can have the same value plus/minus one meter based on whether the z coordinate is higher or lower relative to point 1. Similarly, if point 3 has a z coordinate of 35.04, the difference thereof from the two points is approximately 4m. It can be estimated that the elevation value is 4m higher than the other two points.

After you have a point measurement, you can then create a GPS Benchmark.