EdgeWise Polygons

The EdgeWise™ Polygon Advantage

Figure 1. Point cloud

The most common way to transform a laser-scanned point cloud into “polygons” is through triangulation. This is often referred to as “meshing”.

Figure 2. Simple mesh - large number of polygons

This process uses all of the original points (figure 1) as vertices, and creates an accurate representation of the original scan. However, the file size of the resulting mesh (figure 2) is even larger than that of the original scan (by several times), and the mesh is not amenable to most editing and analysis operations within standard CAD and GIS applications. One way to reduce the file size is through a process called “decimation”, where insignificant points are eliminated, and the remaining points are re-triangulated. Figure 3 shows a decimated mesh.

Figure 3. Decimated - smaller file size; no CAD/GIS utility

Unfortunately, these polygons are still incompatible with most editing and analysis tools.

Figure 4. EdgeWise polygons - smallest possible file size; fully CAD/GIS compatible.

In comparison, EdgeWise™ automatically fits exact polygons to the surfaces, with edges that correspond 1:1 with actual edges in the scanned object. Therefore, these polygons represent the absolute minimum file size achievable for accurate representation of the surface. Additionally, these polygons are fully amenable to all standard GIS and CAD functions. Perhaps most importantly, they are easily edited to form a complete model, something that is nearly impossible to do with a decimated mesh.