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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
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