BSLA Fieldbook BSLA 2014 Fall Fieldbook | Page 15

TOOLBOX / A recent notable lidar project was Flagship Park in Charlestown, Massachusetts, a park built from the historic Charlestown Navy Yard being redeveloped for new uses. The owner, Boston Redevelopment Authority, required a topographic and boundary survey of the park to help future planning. The survey team elected to scan the site as it was the best method to capture the site data in the shortest amount of time. At five acres, data capture would typically take four to five days; with lidar, it took two. The scanning was completed on the first day and the second day was spent locating some features that the scanner would have difficulty locating. Objects that are flush and/or the same color as their surroundings BSLA will blend in with adjacent point data and are difficult for the equipment to plot. Those features are located separately with a total station and data collector. Final deliverable to the client is in appearance a traditional topographic survey, but the site data was captured with a total of 165 million data points–hardly traditional! Lidar is a very useful tool for data collection efforts at sites and can be very useful to the design team. One advantage to be noted is the amount of time saved from various questions that arise from a project. There are countless answers to questions found within the point cloud that is very cost-effective and beneficial to everyone on the design team. With Bryant Associates, Inc. investment in the Cyrax 2400 14 years ago as well as the company’s continued investment in new hardware and software solutions, we are able to offer our expertise in executing a variety of methods of surveying that best suit our client’s needs. Dr. Jack Bryant, PE has always been a visionary when it comes to laser scanning and is a strong proponent of the use of such technology in the design and construction industry. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Dan MacIsaac is a Senior Project Surveyor for Bryant Associates, Inc. in their Boston, MA office. Dan has completed a variety of projects over his career ranging from surveys for airports, rail lines, and small residential projects, to surveys for the energy sector and large development projects. Many of these projects involve integrating all facets of modern survey technology including GPS and LIDAR. He has been licensed as a Professional Land Surveyor in Massachusetts since 2000. Boston Society of Landscape Architects Fieldbook 13