LiDAR 3D Scanning Services in South Africa & Africa

What You Receive From a LiDAR Scan

A laser scan is only as useful as what you can do with it. Every A4AC scanning project is delivered by architects, so the output is ready for design, costing and council, not just a raw file. Depending on your brief, we deliver:

• Registered point cloud: the full 3D laser scan in industry-standard formats such as E57 and LAS, ready to open in Revit, AutoCAD or your viewer of choice.

• Revit BIM model: walls, floors, openings, stairs and structure modelled from the point cloud, so your team can design straight onto the existing building.

• As-built drawings: floor plans, sections and elevations in DWG and PDF, drawn to South African drawing standards.

• Council-ready documentation: as-built and SDP submission sets prepared by a SACAP-registered architect. See our as-built plans service for smaller properties.
   

• From Point Cloud Survey to BIM: Our Scan-to-BIM Process

• 1. Site scan. We laser scan the building inside and out, capturing millions of measured points per setup. Scanning is non-contact, so we can survey around normal operations.

• 2. Registration. Individual scans are aligned into one coordinated point cloud of the whole building or site.

• 3. Automated extraction. Our in-house scan-to-BIM tool detects floor levels, extracts walls, finds door and window openings, groups fixtures and maps rooms directly from the point cloud. It handles scans of more than 50 million points, which cuts the manual tracing that makes traditional scan-to-BIM slow and expensive.

• 4. Architect-checked model. An architect reviews the extracted geometry against the scan and builds the final Revit model and drawings. Automation does the heavy lifting; professional judgement makes it right.

• For a deeper look at the workflow, read our guide to scan-to-BIM in South Africa.
  
   

• Scan-to-BIM at Campus Scale

• One of our current scanning projects is the as-built documentation of a sixteen-building pharmaceutical and healthcare campus in Sandton. We laser scanned the campus, are converting the point clouds into a coordinated BIM model, and have submitted the Site Development Plan to the City of Johannesburg, with the as-built council drawings in production.

• A project of that size shows what 3D laser scanning makes possible: a complete, measured record of an operating campus, delivered faster and more reliably than tape-and-laser surveys building by building.
   

• Who Uses Our 3D Laser Scanning Services

• Developers converting existing buildings: office-to-residential and student housing conversions need an exact record of the existing structure before feasibility and design can start.

• Owners of older and heritage buildings: when the original drawings are lost, incomplete or out of date, a scan gives you a reliable base for alterations and council approvals.

• Quantity surveyors and project teams: measured quantities and accurate existing-condition drawings make early cost plans far more reliable.

• Facilities and property managers: a BIM model of your estate supports space planning, maintenance and future refurbishments.

• Contractors: progress scans compare what has been built against the design model at key milestones.
  
   

• Why Use Architects for LiDAR Scanning?

• Most scanning companies hand over a point cloud and leave the interpretation to you. We are a SACAP-registered architectural practice, so we understand what the scan will be used for: council submissions, feasibility studies, alterations and new design. That means the right level of detail in the model, drawings that comply with SANS 10400 conventions, and one team that can take the project from survey to design. If you are planning a development, our property development study uses the same survey as its starting point.
  
   

• LiDAR Scanning FAQs

• What is LiDAR scanning?

• LiDAR (light detection and ranging) scanning uses a laser to measure millions of points on a building's surfaces. The result is a point cloud: a precise 3D record of the building as it exists today.

• What is scan-to-BIM?

• Scan-to-BIM is the process of turning a point cloud into a BIM model, usually in Revit, with walls, floors, openings and structure as intelligent building elements. It gives designers an accurate existing-conditions model to work from.

• What file formats do you deliver?

• Point clouds in E57 or LAS, Revit models, and drawings in DWG and PDF. We can also export to other formats your team needs.

• How long does a scan take?

• Site time depends on the size and complexity of the building, from a single house to a multi-building campus. We confirm the scanning and delivery programme in our quote.

• Can you scan an occupied building?

• Yes. Laser scanning is non-contact, so we can work around staff, tenants and normal operations with minimal disruption.

• Do you scan outside South Africa?

• Yes. We scan across Southern and East Africa, and anywhere we can reach by air from Johannesburg.