Digital Twin and Measured Building Surveys -

What is a Digital Twin?

DIGITAL TWIN (dɪʤɪtl twɪn)

We capture all visible and accessible surfaces of 'real world' assets of buildings and structures digitally to high definition/fidelity/detail in colour and bring that asset to a screen or Virtual Reality with the power of various cloud and desktop software. We can then provide that digital capture of the asset or extract specific information to create drawings and models to aid design and planning.

A digital version of the real thing - This is a Terra Measurement Limited Digital Twin.

Gartner defines a Digital Twin as:

A digital twin is a digital representation of a real-world entity or system. The implementation of a digital twin is an encapsulated software object or model that mirrors a unique physical object, process, organization, person or other abstraction. Data from multiple digital twins can be aggregated for a composite view across a number of real-world entities, such as a power plant or a city, and their related processes.”

Our High Accuracy Digital Twins can be used for development design, historic record, visualisation, inspection, context, Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, Walkthrough Exploration, etc.

Our Digital Twins can Reduce your Project Carbon Footprint by providing everything other than 'touch' to project consultants and stakeholders to avoid unnecessary journeys to a site. Digital Twins also enable digital collaboration meetings.

The essential starting point for your Retrofit or Design process

We can provide the Digital Twin, measured information and spatial data for any building to the level of accuracy and detail required.

Involve us at the start of your project and we will provide the best approach and value.

We can ensure the whole project team have the best information for their needs and ensure that the building has a legacy spatial dataset for a sustainable future of preventative maintenance and management.

Measured Building Survey deliverables range from basic 2D data and plans to complex 3D models with attributed intelligent data for BIM.

An accurate survey will ensure that the retro-fit, refurbishment or design is correct first time.

Accurate spatial data is an essential part of ensuring a successful and cost-effective building or structure-based project.

Our surveys are undertaken with the latest technology and innovation to provide survey grade results.

For our digital capture, we use a combination of 3D Laser Scanners, Total Stations, Photogrammetry and UAV (Drone) Imaging.

We have an fantastic selection of innovative software packages to combine with our data capture methods to produce anything required for project delivery up to inspection quality Digital Twins.

We can produce virtual reality visualizations and tours of your building to be viewed anywhere in the world, reducing your project carbon footprint.

Our surveys can be undertaken on all types of buildings and structures. The data can be incorporated into BIM (Building Information Modelling) models and processes.

Floor Plans and Ceiling Plans

Floor Plans and are essential for all existing building design, retrofit, and reconstruction projects. They are also essential for some licencing and regulation as well as planning and management of building spaces.

These surveys are undertaken with a combination of 3D Laser Scanners and Total Stations.

Our floor plan surveys can be provided to any level of detail and for any requirements. These can be from basic lay-out plans to fully detailed attributed drawings and asset register.

Floor Plans can be provided as Unconnected, Semi Connected or Fully Connected surveys depending on the project.

Ceiling Plans can also be provided at any level of detail. These are used for retrofitting design and M&E (Mechanical and Electrical) systems.

The medium to high detailed ceiling plans are always undertaken with 3D laser scanning to ensure all detail is captured without compromise or estimation.

Building Sections and Elevations

Building Sections and Elevations can be:

Provided to any level of detail over any accessible or visible part of a building
Measured and positioned where requested
Surveyed to any level of detail, both externally and internally

Building Sections and Elevations can be surveyed with Total Stations, but are primarily surveyed by 3D laser scanning to achieve the highest level of accuracy and detail.

Due to the high level of detail captured with 3D laser scanning, the resulting building elevation plans can, when required, be drawn to include accurate stone by stone or brick by brick details.

3D laser scanning of buildings is also an amazing tool to extract detailed cross sections of buildings, using millions of measured points instead of only hundreds with traditional methods.

These surveys can be undertaken with a combination of 3D Laser Scanners, Total Stations and simple photogrammetry.

Area Measurement and Lease Plan Surveys

Area Measurement Surveys can be completed to any level of accuracy for one room, office or shop - through to complete shopping centre surveys.

In basic form, area measurement surveys can be produced for Estate Agent Plans. More complex and accurate area measurement surveys are completed for Retail and Commercial purposes. These include; Gross External Area (GEA), Gross Internal Area (GEA), Net Internal Area (NIA) and Zoning purposes such as In Terms of Zone A (ITZA).

GEA (Gross External Area) is the area of a building measured externally at each floor level
GIA (Gross Internal Area) is the area of a building measured to the internal face of the perimeter walls (brick/block work or plaster applied to the brick/block work) at each floor level
NIA (Net Internal Area) is the usable area within a building measured to the internal face of the perimeter walls (brick/block work or plaster applied to the brick/block work) at each floor level
Zoning is the dividing of shop or retail premises into a number of zones each of a depth of 6.1 metres - or 20 feet, Zone A (ITZA) is closest to the window, Zone B (ITZB) is the next 6.1 meters, and so on

These can all be provided in plan and spreadsheet. These can be provided for commercial and retail requirements from high street to shopping mall.

Lease Plan Surveys, as with area measurement, can be provided and verified with high accuracy measured survey methods. These can be lease divisions, property ownership and also as part of party wall investigations.

Area measurement and Lease Plan Surveys are undertaken with a combination of Total Stations, laser distance measures, on site software and 3D Laser Scanners.

Revit Models

We offer 3D Revit modelling that contains information based on the needs of designers and stakeholders.

We apply several techniques and methods to make a bridge between the real world and various consultants/designers for retrofit and redesign projects.
We provide a platform so that all project stakeholders, from surveyors to end users, can track the progress of a project – or even manage the lifecycle of a building (maintenance, planning etc).
We recreate existing buildings in Revit using our high accuracy 3D survey data. We define bespoke parameters to fulfil our clients’ requests to manage data and retrieve the desired information.
We will help and consult you to ensure the Revit modelling scope is the best value and fulfils your project needs.

Inspection Level Digital Twin

Our inspection quality Digital Twins are the pinnacle of 3D real world capture. They are completed to the highest accuracy and can produce models at sub mm fidelity.

With best practice survey techniques, a combination of equipment and methods and a suite of next generation software, we capture buildings and structures for inspection and heritage documentation.
These Digital Twins can be used to create drawings, images and other forms of 3D models. They can also be used to explore in immersive virtual reality and even added to a ‘metaverse’ platform.
The immersive Digital Twin is an excellent way of forming an alternative experience for people with accessibility issues or for people limited by distance.

Orthometric Image Elevations

From either high accuracy colour point cloud data or inspection level Digital Twins, we can produce elevations that have superseded traditional line drawings.

Because we have captured a building and brought it to our desktop, we can manipulate and view the building in any way.
We project the building view onto an elevation plane and extract a 1 to 1 image that contains every bit of detail – not just basic lines.
This creates a huge amount of context that is usually missing from a line drawn elevation.

Orthometric Image Elevations are still provided as an AutoCAD drawing and provide a huge cost saving for heritage building drawing requirements.

We conduct all of our surveys in compliance with the following guidance notes, where appropriate:

RICS - Measured surveys of land, buildings and utilities
RICS - Code of Measuring Practice
RICS - Daylighting and Sunlighting
Historic England - Metric Survey Specifications for Cultural Heritage

We also keep up-to-date with any other survey guidance notes provided by the RICS and the TSA.