Two-story stone house with a steep, gabled roof, several chimneys, and a wraparound porch. Exterior stairs on the right lead to the entrance; the house sits in a landscaped yard.

Cross-sectional illustration of a multi-story house, showing interior layouts on each floor: rooms, stairs, furniture, and occupants, from basement to attic, including kitchen, living areas, bedrooms, and exterior walls.

A large, decorative two-story house with a steep dark roof, several dormer windows, and bright blue window frames. The façade shows a central entry and a stone foundation, giving an ornate, symmetric residential building appearance.

A color-coded architectural floor plan of a multi-room building showing hallways, a stairwell and elevator, and rooms in green, blue, and pink, with dimension lines and annotations.

Construction in existing buildings - a potential for ÖbVI

Refurbishment, renovation and conversion are booming. The basis: reliable as-built plans. Surveying engineer Kai Grünhagen from Lübeck has established a workflow that is completely digital from data acquisition to the finished plan - and has thus opened up a new business segment.

The surveying office Kummer from Lübeck relies on the data flow from field data acquisition to graphic design with the Geosoft solution in conjunction with the geodetic CAD rmDATA GeoMapper. With the rmDATA Reality3D software for point cloud evaluation, the publicly appointed surveying engineer (ÖbVI) has expanded its portfolio and offers additional evaluations from 3D laser scans. In a recent project, surveying engineer Kai Grünhagen was able to exploit the full potential of the interaction between the software components and is delighted with the workflow.

The project and the workflow

When planning an extension to a historic villa, the architect faced the challenge that exact plans of the property were not available. Kai Grünhagen was able to quickly remedy the situation with the 3D laser scanner and offered to create comprehensive, two-dimensional facade views, sections and floor plans for the planner and the heritage protection authority. The plans supplied provide the client with optimum support in visualizing possible options for an extension. A new pillar in the ÖbVI's service portfolio was created.

Steep learning curve

It took the team three days to scan the 150-year-old building with around 350 points of view and a usable living space of 1,000 m². The subsequent registration and cleansing of the point clouds, as well as the evaluation and derivation of geometries from them, took another 3.5 times this time in the office.

However, the surveying engineer adds that they are becoming faster and more efficient from project to project: "In any case, the learning curve in 3DWorx is very steep and it was exciting to explore all the possibilities in the software for the listed villa." The smooth workflow between the software products is important to Kai Grünhagen. Only in this way can geometries be derived in 3DWorx in the shortest possible time, exported as DWG files and designed and dimensioned in rmDATA GeoMapper.

"What counts is a smooth workflow so that projects like these can be completed efficiently." Kai Grünhagen, surveying office Kummer, Lübeck

About Vermessungsbüro Kummer

Vermessungsbüro Kummer is an owner-managed engineering office based in Lübeck, specializing in surveying services for private individuals, property developers, architects, engineers and public clients. The publicly appointed surveying engineer (ÖbVI) offers comprehensive services in the field of surveying - from cadastral surveying and engineering surveying to 3D planning bases and property valuations.

Contact rmDATA and find out how you too can benefit from a smooth workflow for your projects, from recording to the finished plan.