Three weeks. That’s how much time the surveying team from Morrison-Shipley Engineers, Inc., had to scan 250,000 square feet and deliver building floor planmodels to Dallas-based Merriman Anderson Architects for 16 Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) facilities in spring 2021. The Fort Smith, AR-based multidisciplinary firm owns three high-speed Leica RTC360 laser scanners, which can capture full scans with high-dynamic range (HDR) imagery in less than two minutes. But on this project, high-speed wasn’t fast enough. Even if they put all three scanners on the project 40 hours each week with three operators, they would be cutting it close. Survey Project Manager Wade Powell, PS (AR), PLS (OK), reached out to Leica Geosystems reality capture specialist Matt Brown to ask about the possibility of renting one more RTC360. Brown, however, countered with another idea: The objectives and time constraints of the DART project presented the ideal scenario for the Leica BLK2GO handheld mobile laser scanner. “I was skeptical,” admits Morrison-Shipley Principal Greg Shipley, PE, who was the driving force behind the company’s first foray into laser scanning 10 years ago. Accuracy has been a key standard, starting with the firm’s investment in a Leica ScanStation C10, followed by a couple of ScanStation P40s and the RTC360s. The BLK2GO, although manufactured by the same company, didn’t seem to fall within the same specifications. For Morrison-Shipley, a company that strives for excellence in quality and customer service as a foundational principle, the proof of any technology is in the performance. “Matt came out and showed us what it was capable of, but we needed to see more,”Shipley says. “I asked Matt to loan us his BLK2GO. ‘If it gives us good data,’ I said, ‘We’ll buy it from you.’” Accuracy with a 41 Percent Time Savings After testing the BLK2GO at the office, Powell felt confident the instrument would perform as needed. He Morrison-Shipley Sets New Benchmark for Fast- Turnaround Reality Capture A handheld imaging laser scanner proves invaluable in meeting a tight project timeline A scan image of the North Peak Street DART office captured with the BLK2GO.
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