Tracking Down the Middle Ages

The medieval church of San Giacomo in Maspiano, Italy, is to be restored. Until recently, no complete plans of the structure existed.

But accurate plans are absolutely essential, as restoration work on this 500-year-old structure requires skill and careful preparation. For the geomatics specialists at Gexcel, architectural surveying is familiar territory. The company was founded on the initiative of the faculty for structural engineering, architecture, space and environment. They were hired by the diocese of Brescia to conduct a geometric survey of the church, which dates back to the 16th century, on-site and as quickly as possible. High-quality procedures and products were of decisive importance: Gexcel used the new FARO Laser
Scanner Photon specifically for this task. It is an innovative device for measuring large objects from a distance of up to 76 meters.

Serving the preservation of historical monuments
The restoration of San Giacomo church was divided into two phases. A topographical network was created first as the basis for geo-referenced scanning. Next the interior and exterior were scanned, and colour photographs taken with a high-resolution Nikon digital camera. All of this data was evaluated using FARO Scene software. Head of Laser Engineering Massimo Gelmini explains: "After the field phase, the scan data was processed, registered and geo-referenced. The camera was calibrated for a texture model and finally orthophotos and CAD illustrations of the church were prepared." The data was processed with Gexcel’s Reconstructor software and AutoCAD.

The results meet all expectations
"It took us less than one and a half days to perform a complete high-resolution survey of the church. Using comparable measuring equipment, we would have needed at least five working days for this task, and with conventional measurement devices, preparing this type of construction drawing
would not have been possible at all," says Gelmini. "In our search for innovative measurement instruments, we stumbled over the FARO products at a trade fair and were soon convinced by the FARO Photon. We are delighted with the quality, especially because the scanning device is portable and is able to produce high-resolution 3D illustrations. Thanks to drastically reduced processing times, we are clearly able to benefit from the resulting cost reductions."

Data capture
uses a laser beam for measuring large areas. The beam is reflected back to the Scanner by the objects in its path. The data is captured and transmitted via WLAN for calculating precise 3D renderings
of the area.

Vertical Rotation
distributes the laser beam, enabling the Scanner to capture an angular range of 320°. Illustration
below shows the 40° blind spot at the base of the device.
 
Horizontal Rotation
This laser scanner revolves the full 360° around its horizontal axis when operating. The distance to the objects defining an area is calculated, as well as their relavtive vertical and horizontal angles in producing a 3D rendering.