Shanesmacl wrote: ↑Tue Jul 07, 2020 7:01 pm Great work Dennis, the VLX looks like a very capable device for topographic work, albeit you'd probably want to tie into existing control. I'd be interested to hear why you don't much like the Velodyne sensor. My own limited experience, based on mobile mapping devices, is that intensity returns aren't great which can be a big problem for certain types of processing. I've also seen quite noisy data from SLAM solutions using Velodyne but I'm not convinced the Velodyne is necessarily the source of the problem. I'd be interested in seeing an image from the VLX colored by intensity in an area where you'd expect sharp distinct changes in intensity. Thanks again for all the info so far, really interesting stuff!
I cannot remember if the unprofessional experience at a CES show was the influence or the noisy data from other shows like SPAR or InterGeo. Many vendors are using the sensor, I would imagine because of availability and cost. As you indicate, it maybe only one of many factors that contribute to an ugly solution.
We are giving our staff practice on using the VLX for real work using targets. We placed a bunch of targets out in our parking lot to get a feel of the best height, orientation, and location to place the targets when compared to targets for our M6, Riegl VZ400i and Z+F 5010Xs.
The ability to cover large areas quickly with the targets interesting and I am sure that buildings help in the registration of the mobile scans and panorama generation.
The post-processing software removes the moving objects such as cars and people on streets and sidewalks. We will be doing more testing in urban areas with greater densities of people and cars.
We checked the targets used with the VLX and how they registered the overall scan with the test scans completed. We are still waiting for the final upgrade on the internal software of the VLX tomorrow. A preliminary check on target X, Y, Z values showed deviations of 1 to 6mm over the 200 foot X 50 foot property.
Used BLK2GO with the same Z+F Targets as the VLX , but the Hexagon software would not recognize the Z+F check targets, so I did not spend any time trying to figure it out. Unless Hexagon has improved their SLAM/display software since April, 2020 it needs significant help to bring up to the visualization quality of NavVis VLX.