The world is composed of two types of information: digital and physical. Physical representations of digital data exist all around us, as do digital representations of physical data. You can look through billions of digitized photos on the internet if you have a computer and network connection. You can look through vast libraries of 3D models that represent physical objects. There are physical items that you possess made from digital designs modeled after physical objects.
Of course, in the physical world of information, we have many manmade structures, like buildings and bridges, that were designed and built before the information technology age, during and prior to the industrial revolution. The surface geometry of these structures can now be recorded or captured from the physical world and processed into digital data. This digital data can be manipulated by powerful software for a variety of practical reasons in architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) and other sectors.
Companies like 3D Robotics are creating new as-built 3D models using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and design engineering software. (Image courtesy of 3D Robotics.)
In fact, this capability is empowering architects, engineers and construction teams with the ability to incorporate as-built 3D models into their planning and diagnosis of ongoing operations. The ability to capture reality data with 3D scanning hardware and use as-built 3D models is changing the way some traditional…