Use Annotations in the Field to Make Scanning Life Easier

Annotations are a fairly new addition to scanning field workflows, but they are turning out to be a way to significantly improve the communication between the field and the office.

A common use case is to call out features that will be important to those in the office that create the deliverables. An example could be identifying markers for buried utilities. In the example below there are quite a few marked utilities but when looking at the station images or even the 3D point cloud they can be time consuming to find. 

However, as the scans are collected, the person capturing the scan has the benefit of seeing the job site in person and walking along the markers, so it is very obvious where they are. By tagging the locations in a field software such as Trimble Perspective the scan technician can reduce the office time of hunting for pin flags and paint markings without out adding time in the field.

In the images below, the annotation allows you to quickly see where the buried utility is. Adding a photo to the annotation can add more context which makes it even easier on the drafter or modeler.

Back in the office, when using a software such as Trimble RealWorks you can display the annotations while doing line work or modeling. 

In addition, you can view the properties of the annotations to see additional details or any images that have been attached.

Annotations are also useful for adding notes that will help in the office beyond drafting or modeling. In this case a note has been added to an annotation to let the office know that when they are checking the registration, they don’t need to worry about misalignments on objects like this light pole because it was very windy. The field technician, knowing that rectangular or cylindrical objects are commonly used when checking the quality of the registration, made a point of adding the annotations to the light pole when he noticed it moving from the strong wind during the scan.

As you can see, annotations in the field can have a positive impact on reducing the overall time it takes to complete a project. So next time you do a scan project take a look around and see what annotations you could add to speed up the office processing.