McKim & Creed has launched MoDaC™, a state-of-the-art mobile data collection system that features the OpTech LYNX™ mobile scanner.

Mobile scanning combines 3-D laser scanning, GPS, inertial measurement and video technologies. Multiple scanners are mounted on an SUV or on a rail truck. These scanners collect dense and accurate 360-degree data while the vehicle travels at posted speeds. The data is used for design, modeling and simulation in 2-D, 3-D and 4-D formats.

MoDaC™ offers considerable benefits. It is significantly less expensive than traditional helicopter photogrammetry. Data collection is much faster. Massive amounts of data can be collected while traveling at posted speeds, and surveyors can collect up to 400,000 points per second as compared to one point every few seconds with traditional surveying. With fewer personnel working beside busy roadways, mobile scanning creates a safer job site. Because the data is collected from a moving vehicle, mobile scanning does not impede traffic flow. As an added benefit, the dense data that is collected lends itself to future data extraction without additional field visits.