A useful construction scan begins before the Jet is powered on. The field team needs a coordinate story, a capture route, and a deliverable definition that every downstream user understands. Without those three decisions, a dense point cloud can still arrive with the wrong origin, weak coverage around critical work, or no defensible way to compare it with design.
This workflow follows a project from control planning through an accepted as-built package. Artec describes Jet as a SLAM-based mobile LiDAR system that can be carried or mounted on a backpack, vehicle, robot, or drone. The manufacturer currently lists LAS, LAZ, PLY, and E57 point-cloud outputs. Those capabilities create options; the project specification decides which options belong on a given site.
Write the acceptance sheet first
The best first field document is a one-page acceptance sheet. It names the coordinate reference system, vertical datum, units, required features, areas of interest, file formats, expected model use, and who approves the result. It also separates manufacturer specifications from the tolerance required for the job. A listed mapping accuracy is useful for planning, yet it does not prove that a particular dataset meets a contract requirement.
| Decision | Record before capture | Field evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Reference frame | Horizontal system, vertical datum, units, site calibration | Control report and point descriptions |
| Acceptance | Check features, tolerance, confidence or reporting convention | Independent checkpoint residuals |
| Coverage | Rooms, elevations, utilities, overheads, exclusions | Route map and field completeness review |
| Handoff | LAS/LAZ/E57, CAD, BIM, viewer, naming | Transmittal and manifest |
The acceptance sheet should distinguish control points used to constrain or transform the data from checkpoints reserved for testing. Mixing them can make a report look reassuring while removing its independence. USGS guidance for lidar programs emphasizes surveyed checkpoints and accuracy reporting; a building project can adopt the same sound principle even when its contractual standard is different.
Build a durable control layer
Construction sites change quickly. A target fixed to temporary drywall may disappear before the next trade mobilizes. Control should occupy stable locations with safe access and useful visibility. The survey lead can establish enough points around and through the work to avoid relying on a single side of the site. Each mark needs an identifier, coordinates, description, establishment method, date, and photograph.
Choose several independent check locations that represent the actual geometry being delivered. A clear floor point alone says little about a congested ceiling rack. For an as-built focused on sleeves, embeds, walls, and overhead services, distribute checks by elevation and work zone. Protect those checkpoints from the adjustment process.
A control point helps place the dataset. A checkpoint tests what arrived. The distinction belongs in the field log and in the final report.
Walk the route on paper
SLAM benefits from recognizable geometry and loop closures. Long, repetitive corridors, open slabs, moving equipment, and feature-poor surfaces deserve special attention. The operator should sketch a route that begins in a geometrically rich, stable area; passes the work at a useful stand-off; returns through connecting geometry; and closes near the start or another verified point.
Coverage planning is delightfully practical. The crew can ask what will hide the feature from this path. Columns hide column faces, pipe banks hide hangers, parked lifts hide slab edges, and temporary protection hides finishes. A second path from a different elevation or direction often has more value than simply walking the first path more slowly.
- Coordinate with the superintendent so the route avoids active lifts, hot work, pours, and material deliveries.
- Mark zones that require a pole, backpack, robot, or another approved deployment.
- Plan short logical capture segments when a single run would become difficult to review or repeat.
- Include transitions between floors, rooms, and exterior control rather than treating them as afterthoughts.
- Record exclusions caused by access, safety, weather, or active work.
Capture with a live field log
At the start, the operator records device identity, firmware or software version, battery and storage status, configuration, project name, time, weather where relevant, and the control available. A brief reference scan or check gives the team a known starting condition. During capture, the operator watches the live preview for holes, trajectory concerns, and missed surfaces while a second crew member manages access and notes changing conditions.
Artec lists a 360 by 290 degree field of view, a 0.5 to 300 meter sensing range, and up to 1.92 million points per second in triple-return acquisition. Those are manufacturer figures, not a route prescription. Range, incidence angle, surface response, obstruction, motion, and the intended feature size still shape usable coverage. A bright preview can look complete while a required edge remains too sparse for reliable extraction.
When the route closes, the team pauses for a completeness check. It confirms that required zones appear in the preview, control has been observed as planned, file storage is healthy, and the log names any deviation. If one riser room was locked, the record should say so immediately. Quietly letting the office discover the gap wastes the speed that makes mobile capture exciting.
Process in controlled stages
The office keeps raw observations read-only and works from copies. Processing begins with trajectory and loop review, followed by registration, control application, filtering, and export. Each material decision belongs in a processing log: software version, parameters, coordinate transformation, control points used, excluded data, clipping, decimation, and export settings.
Checkpoint residuals should be calculated after the dataset is in its delivery frame. Report signed differences where useful, summary statistics appropriate to the contract, the checkpoint survey method, and any spatial trend. A tidy average can hide a rotation or vertical tilt, so a residual plot or map is more revealing than one number.
Turn the cloud into an as-built record
The final product should follow the acceptance sheet. A coordination team may need a registered E57 and lightweight viewer. A survey deliverable may require classified LAS or LAZ, control documentation, and a surface. A VDC team may need modeled walls, slabs, openings, or MEP elements with an agreed level of information. Delivering every possible format creates version confusion and longer uploads.
Before release, another person opens each exported file, checks coordinates and units, reviews a few known dimensions, confirms the clipping boundary, and compares the manifest with the folder. The transmittal states capture date, included and excluded areas, control and checkpoint method, results, processing summary, file structure, limitations, and contact for corrections.
A compact field gate
- Acceptance criteria and deliverable uses are signed off.
- Control and independent checkpoints are stable, described, and observed.
- The route includes useful geometry, planned loops, transitions, and occlusion recovery.
- The field log captures configuration, conditions, deviations, and coverage evidence.
- Processing preserves raw data and records every material transformation.
- Checkpoint results are mapped and interpreted against the project requirement.
- Exports are opened, spot-checked, manifested, and transmitted with limitations.
That sequence gives the point cloud a chain of custody. The appealing part is how quickly a mobile system can cover a busy project; the dependable part is the evidence wrapped around the capture. Construction teams need both.