MIXED REALITY VISUALIZATION OF POINT CLOUDS FOR SUPPORTING TERRESTRIAL LASER SCANNING

Abstract

3D point clouds from terrestrial laser scanners (TLS) are used in a variety of fields and applications. To acquire high-quality point clouds that have enough point density, small scanning errors, and no lack of points in important regions, appropriate scan planning, including determination of scanner positions and scan conditions, is required. Currently, planning is supported by knowledge and experience of skilled workers, and it is difficult to ensure the quality of acquired point clouds. In this study, we propose a system for visualization of point clouds to support the acquisition of high-quality point clouds using TLS. The system allows the user to see and check the quality of scanned TLS point clouds and unscanned regions intuitively by superimposing the point clouds onto the real world using a mixed reality (MR) device. In addition, the system supports finding the next best scanner position for additional laser scans based on predicted scan quality visualization to acquire higher-quality points or fill the unscanned regions.