On science
Text: Marjukka Puolakka Photos: Antero Kukko, Anttoni Jaakkola, Hannu Hyyppä
Laser scanning the 3D world Robotic cars, forest growth, virtual theatre, renovations... Laser scanning has a lot of applications, and new ones are being discovered all the time. THIS IS THE BASIC idea: a laser beam
bounces off the object being measured, and the time it takes the beam to travel back is used to measure the distance of the object. The cloud of measured points is used to build a precise three-dimensional model of a city, forest, house, human or, for example, a cow. “At first, laser scanning was performed from aeroplanes, but today’s mobile scanners can be transported in a backpack or they might be a component of, for example, a robotic car’s eyes,” says Professor Hannu Hyyppä from the School of Engineering.
Mobile-scanned built environment.
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Hyyppä’s research group is linked to the Academy of Finland-funded Centre of Excellence in Laser Scanning Research (2014–19). Together with the Finnish Geospatial Research Institute, the group forms the Research Institute of Measuring and Modelling for the Built Environment, which is a world leader in mobile laser scanning. “The demand for three-dimensional information is growing explosively. Our vision has laser scanning present everywhere, and affecting the lives of everyone in the information society of the 2020s.”
From museum objects to robotic buses In mobile applications, the scanner is transported in a car, boat, robotic copter or backpack. A digital camera is a common optional extra used to assign colour values to the point cloud and give the object a more natural appearance. The development of GPS location systems and inertial measurement devices that measure an object’s position will lead to ever more precise 3D models. The mobile scanners manufactured collaboratively at the Centre of Excellence in Laser Scanning Research are being used to perform measurements