Optimising operations through digital innovation

Author: Penny Boviatsou

The digital revolution is here and won’t leave any industry out of its influence. Technology has changed the way surveyors, engineers and construction professionals work, giving a new vision on how work should be done.

e-Cassini is a start-up company founded in March 2017 by Patrick Maïore, a surveyor with 25 years of experience in the field. It is the result of years of reflection on the digital revolution and its impact on the technical profession and the market that frames it. The e-Cassini solution is an answer to challenges such as Building Information Modelling (BIM), energy transition and smart city.

The company’s goal is to simplify the day-today management of the space (public domain, buildings, etc.); facilitate the production of all types of plans (street, facade and network plans, interiors, etc.); and assist with the production of georeferenced and Geographic Information System (GIS) data, thanks to the opportunities offered by digital technologies.

To achieve this goal, e-Cassini uses Leica Geosystems technology for its indoor and outdoor documentation projects. Its portfolio includes products such as Leica Pegasus:Backpack, BLK360, and Leica Geosystems total stations and software.

“Leica Geosystems solutions assure a complete documentation of a building with a level of accuracy that meets and exceeds our customers’ expectations,” said Maïore.

e-Cassini takes its name from the Cassini map, the first topographical map of the Kingdom of France drawn to scale. This map, created by the Cassini family of cartographers between 1756 and 1815, was truly innovative and a major technical advance for its time.

Being innovative

Today, the e-Cassini platform makes the entire public domain available in the form of a 3D point cloud with centimetric precision. This cloud is obtained using an exclusive surveying technique that combines LiDAR technologies (light detection and ranging) and topographic techniques.

The platform also offers tools for identifying and managing the public domain online and offers tools for online management of built heritage. Its collaborative nature and the guarantee of updated data makes it a revolutionary tool.

The graphical features and GIS data provided by the platform help to manage:

• Roads: road markings and traffic signs, nature and quality of surfacing, and maintenance work
• Green spaces
• Visible networks or network elements: drinking water, sanitation, street lighting, telephony and cables
• Flood risk areas
• Plans: network detection plans, classic or simplified street plan, facade plans, etc.
• GIS data models
• Urban planning
• 3D local urban planning plan
• Design of urban development projects.

“The benefits of the platform are numerous: time saving, less travel, budget and logistics savings are a few,” said Maïore. “Having a technology partner like Leica Geosystems ensures the quality we look in securing for our projects.”

With the e-Cassini platform, the municipalities and federations of municipalities have an online tool to help with the day-to-day management of the public domain and to simplify the creation of all types of plans, geodata and GIS data. The data produced can be exported and saved on the cloud where it can be accessed and implemented by all subscribers.

“Our platform facilitates teams’ collaboration and usability of data; the information entered on the e-Cassini cloud is available to all users, anywhere at any time,” said Maïore.

Handling numerous projects

e-CASSINI contributes in the management of public space:

• Roads: street mapping, network detection plan, network plan, longitudinal profiles, cross sections, horizontal signage management (plans and GIS), vertical signage management (plans and GIS), management of the nature and quality of coatings (maps and GIS), quantitative works (surfaces, linear, etc.), updates following the work done by scan and integration in the e-Cassini repository
• Green spaces: maps, linear, surfaces, GIS management, management of landscape parks, cemeteries, updates following the work done by scan and integration in the e-Cassini repository
• Networks: integration of the existing network recovery plans, definition of network plans in e-Cassini, street lighting, wastewater and rainwater remediation, drinking water supply, electrical assets, gas assets, air networks, real-time update of network GIS data
• Subject mastery: road design, earthworks calculation, calculation of rights of way, Roads, Networks, Diverse (VRD)

The e-Cassini platform is also used in the management of private space by:

1. Capturing of the “as-is information”

The indoor part of the building is scanned with HDS technology level by level. The outside of the building is captured either with HDS equipment or with the Pegasus:Backpack. Point clouds are created in colour or in black and white. The resulting files are assembled together.

2. Surveying a building under construction, at each phase of its construction

The building is captured with a fixed scanner at each floor: the structural elements, roof, technical reservations, facades, networks and the technical ducts at their exact locations, partitions and finished parts.

The outdoor facilities are captured once the building is completed. The files obtained are loaded onto the platform by phase and type of acquisition. Thus, the building is detailed in all the complexity of its construction.

The outside data acquisition is done with a Pegasus:Backpack using GNSS and SLAM mode. Depending on the accuracy of the trajectory, the acquisition is supplemented with ground control points (GCP). The number of GCPs depends on the final required accuracy. e-Cassini has developed a method to obtain an absolute accuracy of + - 4cm in x, y, z.

The indoor data acquisition is made with a Leica ScanStation P20 or BLK360 with the possibility of using the Pegasus:Backpack depending on the dimensions of the building and final accuracy. For updates, e-Cassini uses the BLK360.

For the fixed scan acquisition, the data is assembled with Cyclone REGISTER. For a dynamic scan acquisition, the company uses the Pegasus Manager suite to obtain an assembled point cloud with centimetre-precision.

The assembled data is loaded from e-Cassini into the cloud. Once loaded, the data is accessible to be exploited with the different e-Cassini modules.

“Picking a technology partner for your business can be a big decision,” said Maïore. “Leica Geosystems’ technology contributes to our company’s growth and profitability.”