Matthew Byrd of Reality Capture Network argues that lack of education, not cost, is what holds back laser scanning, and that shared best practices and community are how the industry will meet demand it cannot yet staff.

Matthew Byrd, Founder and CEO, Reality Capture Network

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In this conversation

How a car accident ended Matthew's sports plans and a laser scanner demo turned a surveying job he did not enjoy into a career.

Why he says lack of education, not cost, is the number one barrier to laser scanning, and what a crew with tape measures really costs.

His explanation of why vague scan requests draw bids from $5,000 to $80,000, and how a cheap bid with poor data turns owners against the technology.

Why an owner with a thousand warehouses faces a problem with no standards, certifications or licensing: two providers will likely deliver two different results.

How RCN's volunteer committees write best practices on when to use photogrammetry, SLAM, mobile or terrestrial scanning.

His prediction that projects will scan weekly or monthly through construction, and that the workforce to meet that demand does not exist yet.

The technologies can transform old ways of working, and they can inspire the next generation to want a job in the built environment.

Matthew Byrd

Chapters

From sports to surveying

How Matthew fell into his father's surveying trade and found laser scanning around 2009.

Why laser scanning matters

Accurate as-built data for every trade, and the movie sets and forensic sites he never expected.

Education is the barrier

Why awareness of the tools matters more than their price, and the coming shortage of skilled users.

Scanning a thousand warehouses

No standards, misunderstood timelines, and the $5,000 to $80,000 bid spread.

Committees and specialists

How RCN's volunteer committees share lessons, and why providers should pick one vertical.

More capture, more community

Scanning through construction, asking software questions about a building, and building an industry community.

It's not the cost to scan, it's that you're not yet familiar with what it replaces and what the benefits are.

Matthew Byrd

Takeaways

Byrd says the number one barrier to laser scanning adoption is that owners and even buyers of scanners do not understand the tools or what they replace.

Vague scan requests produce bids from $5,000 to $80,000, and when the cheapest wins with poor data, owners wrongly conclude the technology does not work.

With no standards, certifications or licensing, two providers scanning two warehouses will likely deliver two different results.

RCN runs volunteer committees across industries to write best practices and case studies on when to use photogrammetry, SLAM, mobile or terrestrial scanning.

He expects projects to scan weekly or monthly through construction, and says there is not yet the workforce to meet that demand.

If you hire two different people in two different cities to capture two different warehouses, you're very likely going to get two different results.

Matthew Byrd