The trouble with data

Laser Scanning for land surveying and civil engineering purposes is such a relatively new technology that most of us, whether earlier adopters or new surveyor on the scene, have had to resort to inventing helter-skelter fashion work flows, especially for the post processing of our scan data. One idea or step follows another until we are temporarily satisfied with the results. Several projects later, old procedures lead to better procedures, the cycle continues as we make more and different changes to our workflow. And so it goes. If you remember the early days of GPS surveying, processing scan data is much the same in that you are tweaking with the data and processing parameters to whittle away at those residuals and standard errors, all to make the final results unquestionably credible. The same is true in scan data processing and now, with scanning, it is much more difficult and complicated. More difficult in many ways. For starters, scanning technology is not based on a system developed by the government like GPS, rather scanning is a technology evolving from a multitude of origins. Each vendor is developing their own technology. They are using many different laser platforms, different data handling methods, different standards for processing and evaluating data, and of coarse, different methods of preparing deliverables. Finding qualified engineers and scientist, and useful training for scanning and the processing of scan data is also a mounting problem. Each vendor is essentially engaged in a free-for-all to develop the technology in what ever direction they feel is best. They are not constrained to predesigned parameters of a government system such as the case with GPS. They are using whatever technology they chose. Each manufactures scanning system is likely more different than they are for GPS receivers. I may get more direct exposure to multiple systems the near future. As a co-principal investigator for a laser scanning curriculum project at Evergreen Valley College funded by the National Science Foundation I will begin teaching a course in laser scanning next spring and the equipment may come from a source different than the equipment that I am familiar with using. I look forward to sharing with you my insights during this undertaking. I fear our industry will be slow to fill the demand for qualified scanning measurement experts. I hope I can be part of the solution to this problem. Let me know of you have ideas.