5 Ways Leica Infinity Connects Measurement Data Across the Construction Lifecycle

1. Create points from BIM data and export to the field for stakeout

BIM is the standard process for building and construction projects today, making it essential that BIM models fit into your data preparation workflows. Infinity is the bridge between the BIM model and field-ready data for measurement sensors and staking applications.

With Infinity, you can import data using IFC files or directly via service integrations, like Bentley ProjectWise or Autodesk BIM 360. The BIM explorer tool allows you to see the whole organised data structure during data import and disable elements before making extractions. Once imported and extracted, you can view the model in 3D and navigate to isolate relevant areas.

For example, when preparing data for stakeout on a building project, you can select windows, columns, slabs, or beams and create points from the model data. Infinity lets you store these points to the project and export to Leica Captivate or iCON field software with easy data selection and export options, making everything ready for stakeout in the field.

Once you have completed all field work, you can import the data to view and save reports of the staked points, creating traceability across phases and measurement tasks. 

2. Combine and process all measurement data from the construction site in one software

Across the lifecycle a construction project, different methods and sensor combinations meet the unique requirements of measurement tasks in changing site environments. Whether you are laying out points with a Leica TS60 total station, measuring points close to building with a Leica GS18 I smart antenna, or laser scanning interiors for surface checks with a Leica RTC360, Infinity directly imports and combines all measurement data across a project, easily aligning your post processing efforts. With this combined data you can create points clouds, 3D models, reports and more, with clear quality control.

Leica Infinity works with the range of Leica instruments, including digital levels, total stations and MultiStations, GS smart antennas, and, in the recently released 4.0 version, terrestrial laser scanners, including the Leica RTC360 and the Leica BLK360.

This range of instruments helps accomplish even the most difficult measurement tasks. For example, the Leica GS18 I GNSS is a great tool for measuring difficult to access points, especially when recording many points along active roadways or in trenches. Using a combination of functionalities like tilt compensation and visual positioning, the GS18 I speeds data collection work on construction sites and even covers GNSS service gaps in obscured locations where a direct connection is unavailable.

In Infinity, you can measure points from images and combine this with control data from total stations to create dense point clouds. Altogether, this allows you to compile all data into one project for processing, easy access, and consistent updates across phases. The result? Streamlined data management, quality checks, and progress reporting.

3. Calculate stockpile volumes and create comparison maps from UAV data

Using UAVs to collect site data during active building phases is an increasingly popular method, especially for stockpile volume calculations and comparison maps. UAVs are effective for this crucial materials management task because they capture measurements difficult to acquire with conventional methods – stockpiles are often high and located in areas with active machinery. Aerial imaging and scanning keep construction surveyors out of harm’s way and enable work to continue uninterrupted while measurements are taken.

However, gathering the data is only the beginning of the process. Ensuring the UAV data can fit into the project workflow by providing accurate calculations and easily digestible reports is essential for getting the most out of the captured data.

Infinity ensures you can integrate this data into your project, process the images, and create informative reports. The process is simple and streamlined to fit construction workflows – import the UAV data, download reference RINEX data directly from your HxGN SmartNet service subscription, and  post-process the UAV track with up to centimetre-level accuracy of the images. This ensures the point cloud generated from images will be survey grade.

From here, you can create dense point clouds overlapped with surfaces and select relevant areas of the generated point cloud for analysis. Calculate stockpile volumes and view the stockpile with environmental context on a background map or as a 3D visualisation in a graphical view where you can adjust colour controls to enhance contrasts and make the findings clear. Finally, export into pre-formatted comparison map reports to deliver actionable information to stakeholders.

4. Create site flythroughs to help collaborators and clients visualise important project information

Providing project overview and building progress information to collaborators and clients through 3D visualisations is an excellent way to convey data, especially to those from different areas of expertise. Infinity allows you to create flythroughs – short videos that provide a virtual tour of a site, highlighting data in 3D. With four different methods to create flythroughs (i.e. Fly Along Point, Orbit, Look Around and Fly Along Feature), Infinity helps you generate these high value deliverables and customise with visualisations that best communicate your data.

For example, with the Fly Along View Points method, you can easily navigate around a building construction site to demonstrate the as-built reality. With the ability to adjust viewpoints, camera position, angles, and more, Infinity lets you pan, zoom, and rotate to provide different perspectives of the model and the points most relevant to your clients.

To demonstrate stockpile calculations, on the other hand, the Orbit and Look Around method is helpful, in which the camera orbits around a selected location, while still allowing you to adjust settings like camera position and Zenith angle to optimise the view. Or, if you are working with road construction data, you can use the Fly Along Feature method – in this case, the camera will follow a selected Linear feature, like the road’s centre line, to create the flythrough.

The blend of high value visualisation with accurate and robust spatial data makes flythroughs an excellent way to communicate the as-built progress of construction projects. 

5. Combine data to create digital twins enabling operation and maintenance plans 

Even after construction is completed, Infinity’s comprehensive project data continues to bring benefits to the operation and maintenance of buildings and other sites.

The project data collected, connected, and processed in Infinity can form the foundation for descriptive digital twins. When integrated into imported BIM models, this crucial base helps depict the as-built reality of project when construction is completed, along with providing access to historical data.

Descriptive digital twins can be further developed into analytical and predictive models with real-time data gathered from a range of on-site sensors and operational information. This enables a multi-dimensional perspective, analyses of operational efficiency, maintenance planning and even predictive modelling to identify potential problems and determine the most cost-effective interventions.