One of the unique things about Auckland is that it’s built on 55 volcanoes and has a huge number of lava caves, many hidden beneath private properties. The caves are over 30,000 years old and the largest are hundreds of metres long.
We have laser scanned a local cave. The scan picked up the nuances and features of the rocks beautifully. We can now produce a permanent 3D model of exactly what is on-site that owners can keep forever. This could be extremely useful for deformation analysis and for planning of future land development above caves.
Mark Finlayson, Survey Director, said “Laser scanning is ideal for capturing geographical features. We can scan a cave, cliff, rocks or building façade and then it can be digitally reproduced very accurately, as laser scanning is perfect for irregular features.”
Laser scanning has:
- The ability to capture highly accurate detail in pitch black environments such as the caves, it’s also ideal for restricted spaces and hazardous sites.
- Richly detailed information – in this example the highly irregular rock surfaces were beautifully captured.
- Communication and comparison – a full colour point cloud allows measurement, notation and a communication.
