Here it comes-the demand for scanning

So many new things to tell you about. Laser scanning for the AEC industry has been lukewarm at best for quite some the time. All the hype from vendors has fueled lots of articles in the various industry magazines. Most of the actual use out side of petrol industry is limited to a few pioneers, big firm which have embraced scanning and a few assorted niche areas. But I feel the changes coming. I've been telling people that the big movement in demand for scanning will follow the use of 3D design and that our industry, AEC, is just now starting to consider the use of 3D or Virtual Design tools. I recently spoke at the annual conference for CLSA. I presented an "average surveyor's" perspective on the state of laser scanning technology and what every surveyor should know about scanning thus far. This level of presentation was exactly what everyone wanted. The feedback I got afterwards was very positive, that I had answered much of the curiosity that lingered in the minds of many surveyors who are getting mixed signals about whether this is a technology that they should be adopting now or waiting. At the conference I ran into Geoff Jacobs, Sr Vice Pres. Leica HDS (and frequent contributor to Professional Surveyor magazine. I see Geoff at many of the laser scanning industry events and occasionally I bump into him at the Leica HDS headquarters in San Ramon, Calif. when visiting there for user-group meeting or dealing with equipment issues (it is very convenient to live and work very near their offices since our firm uses Leica HDS scanners). Geoff was very keen to hear what surveyors have to say about scanning and how they are deploying scanning in their daily work and work flows (we used to call these procedures). I must say that Geoff and company put a whole lot of effort into figuring how best to bring value to the surveyor through the use of their products. Later at the same conference Geoff cornered me for an introduction to Marc Cheves, editor of American Surveyor magazine. several years ago when Marc first stated his magazine I offered to write a few columns for him. Well that never happened. I just never made time to do it and so it never got done. Every once in a while I would get an email from him asking if I had come up with anything to submit yet. Well now I have Geoff and Marc headed my way and I'm surrounded by slot machines and talkative surveyor so there's no getting out of this one. It turns out to be okay. I had never actually met Marc in person so I was actually pleased to have a moment to chat with him. Geoff introduced me as a Leica products user and I think Geoff was hoping that I would submit some draft material to the magazine for consideration not knowing that Marc and I had already discussed this possibility yet I had just not made it happen yet. Don't give up Marc. There may still be hope. There is a lot to write about scanning now and I feel an urge coming on. So all, stay tuned for many posts in the coming weeks.