Heerbrugg, Switzerland, 3 January 2007 – Leica Geosystems has announced the release of Leica Cyclone 5.6 software. The new high-definition surveying software version now lets users take advantage of laser scanners for popular orthophoto and stakeout workflows for surveying and mapping.
Leica Cyclone, the industry’s popular laser scanning software, is Leica Geosystems’ suite of software modules that enables users to efficiently control Leica Geosystems HDS scanners and process rich point cloud data for surveying, mapping and as-built applications.
– New orthophoto capability
Cyclone MODEL’s texture mapping capability, which allows external digital photographs to be imported and applied (draped) accurately over point clouds, has been extended to support a powerful, new orthophoto output capability.
User can now take full advantage of Leica Cyclone’s rich texture mapping and meshing capabilities to create and export a rectified image at a known scale. This lets CAD users precisely trace over the rectified image to create accurate 2D drawings. Long an everyday workflow of photogrammetry systems, this workflow is now seamlessly integrated into the powerful Cyclone 3D point cloud environment.
Heritage building elevations with highly detailed surfaces, as-builts of fine detail on plant machinery, and even top-down topographical mapping – as traditionally done with aerial photogrammetry – are all now possible with point clouds via Leica Cyclone.
– New stakeout capability
Cyclone SCAN 5.6 introduces a “first-in-the-market” stakeout feature for laser scanners. Until now, laser scanners were only used for mapping applications, not for stakeout. With the new version, Leica Geosystems HDS scanners equipped with dual-axis tilt sensing can be used for simple stakeout (or “setting out”) operations.
The user uploads the point(s) to be staked out into a laptop scan controller, scans a scan target on a stakeout pole, and then – based on Cyclone SCAN 5.6 stakeout display information – instructs the pole person to move the pole the proper distance and direction to locate the desired point. The implementation uses standard survey point ID notation that allows a sequence of points to be staked out.
The benefit of adding this stakeout capability to a laser scanner is that for projects that include both mapping and some stakeout, it can eliminate the need to have separate total station or GNSS/GPS equipment for stakeout at the same jobsite where a scanner is being used. Or, a total station or GNSS/GPS system can be working on another part of the jobsite while the scanner is simultaneously used to stakeout a few points.
Scanning a target to stakeout is not as fast as using a total station and prism or GNSS/GPS to stakeout, so this new feature is not intended to displace these instruments for production stakeout. However, it can be a valuable time-saver and convenience factor when just a few points need to be located and other stakeout instruments are not readily accessible.
– Expanded Interoperability
To support the growing popularity of Leica Geosystems HDS laser scanner and software products, Cyclone 5.6 features expanded interoperability. First, users of the popular Leica CloudWorx for AutoCAD application can now access data in common ASCII, PTS and PTX formats from other instruments (such as aerial LIDAR and non-Leica Geosystems scanners) via the free Cyclone VIEWER module.
Prior to Cyclone 5.6, Leica CloudWorx for AutoCAD users had to have a fee-based module of Cyclone to use such data. In addition, Cyclone 5.6 now supports data export from Leica Geosystems’ popular HDS scanners into LFM software via a new PTZ format.
– Price and availability
Leica Cyclone 5.6 is released and available. Pricing for all modules is available from authorized Leica Geosystems representatives. For existing customers, updates to Leica Cyclone 5.6 are covered by applicable Maintenance Agreements. The new Cyclone PUBLISHER module is available for purchase as a standalone module or as an addition to any Cyclone configuration.
