From reality to virtual reality using 3-D laser scanning and object recognition

A problem in factory planning is that drawings for factory and manufacturing lines are mostly outdated. Very often, rebuildings are not included in the plans which mostly are only in 2D. This does not meet the demands of modern and efficient factory planning. The new form of 3-D laser scanning offers an optimum solution for quick, simple and realistic data acquisition of existing objects. Exact and consistent 3-D factory and equipment models are possible. But a problem still is the transfer of the 3-D laser scan data, so-called point clouds, to CAD and Virtual Reality systems. To make transfer and use of the scan data possible, data reduction and abstraction has to be undertaken. This can be done by the new development of object recognition in unordered and incomplete laser scan point clouds which closes the gap between classic and digital planning.