Conceptual Design of Advanced Construction Progress Monitoring with Terrestrial and Robotic Laser Scanning Systems

Advanced geomatics tools such as robotic and terrestrial laser scanners have the potential to 
significantly improve the progress monitoring of construction sites throughout their life cycle, 
particularly in the concrete structures, from the initial stage to cracking the ground for 
excavation and shoring to outdoor pouring of concrete at above levels and indoor finishing 
processes. Using 3D laser scanners to collect point cloud data and importing it into a BIM 
platform can lead to effective construction quality assessment, promoting sustainability in the 
building industry. By performing a robust BIM-based quality control system, including 
comparing as-built models extracted from point cloud data with the original as-designed 
drawings in 3D digital format, discrepancies can be detected and conflicts prevented during 
construction. Geomatics engineers are the groups of people who are involved in construction 
projects from the beginning. They now track construction progress using a combination of 
terrestrial lidar systems and emerging technologies such as robotic lidar systems mounted on 
autonomous mobile platforms or drones. This paper presents a framework for the effective use 
of advanced lidar systems to collecting 3D laser scanning data during different construction 
phases, in order to support the efficient quality control process in a BIM framework.