COMPARISON of solid shapes geometry derived by a laser scanner and a total station

摘要

The laser scanning technology has become a common method for the daily applications of a large variety of scientists and professionals. Even for more sophisticated projects, laser scanners have been proved a very useful tool at researchers' and engineers' disposal, In this paper, we investigated the ability of a laser scanner -compared to the ability of a total station- to provide the geometry of solids. The tests were made in the laboratory facilities of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, in a variety of distances between the measuring instrument and the object. The solids that were used differ in shape, material and color. The objects are a wooden cube, a metal cube and a wooden pyramid. The absolute dimensions of the solid shapes were provided by the use of a caliper and were compared to the dimensions that were calculated by the coordinates produced by the total station and laser scanner measurements.