iPhone now comes with a 3D Scanner. Does it benefit the PropTech and the Construction Industry?

Some pros and cons of the new feature and the opportunities we see for the Building Industry

The launch of the iPhone 12 Pro this week confirms the rumours: the new iPhone will feature an integrated 3D scanner — the only mobile phone on the market with this functionality.

Placed right next to the back cameras, the LiDAR scanner sensor is able to map the user’s surrounding area by shooting out light beams and then measuring how quickly they return. The three-dimensional points in space give apps a better sense of the user’s surrounding physical environment, opening the door to delivering new experiences.

iPhone 12 Pro: three cameras and a Scanner

The idea excited many people, especially those passionate about augmented reality games (Pokemon Go, comes to mind). Moreover, the ability to capture physical reality has been part of our core at Imerso from Day 1.

For us, this release led to the question: Can the scanner on the iPhone 12 Pro help the proptech and the building industry?

The answer is yes.
And no.

A major benefit of having a 3D scanner added to a mobile phone is that it facilitates people getting used to the idea of Scanning. Industry-grade scanners are rapidly becoming cheaper and easier to use, but many people still have the idea that the technology is expensive and complicated. By bringing a scanner into our pockets, Apple helps to demystify that notion. It is especially important in the construction industry, one of the least digitised sectors, where most of the work in documentation and project control is still done manually up to now.

Apple did not release much information on the scanner on their iPhone 12 Pro yet. Still, considering the technology of the iPadPro (released last March with a very similar scanner), it is possible to speculate some pros and cons of the new feature.

The scanner has some important highlights: it can measure the distance to surrounding objects for approximately 5 meters away and improves the Apple Measure app — making it faster and easier to calculate ceiling height, for instance. It also allows the user to visualise different flooring materials in a room and provide measurements of the flooring area.

Presumably, Apple will mainly leverage the technology to improve AR (Augmented reality) experiences, of accurately overlaying digital content and information onto the physical world. It allows making useful apps, for instance, to check how that beautiful table you are looking at in an online store fits into your dining room. Overall, the feature works well in indoor and in confined environments, and for short distances.

On the left, the living room in three-dimensional points. On the right, the AR experience, overlaying digital content and information onto the physical world

Besides such applications for augmented reality, we also see powerful applications for 3D Capture, especially in a construction setting. The new sensor allows onsite workers to capture As-built documentation in volumetric 3D that software like Imerso can automatically verify for quality compliance against the building plans.

Some of the pitfalls, however, relate to the limited capture range (5 meters, compared to over 60 meters of industry-grade scanners), as well as poor data precision (centimetres, versus millimetre accuracy) and resolution.

Below you can see a comparison between a scan taking with a phone vs a scan taken with an industry scanner.

On the left, the room was scanned with a mobile phone. On the right, the same room was scanned with a BLK360, an Industry-grade scanner. More three-dimensional points in the scan provide more precision and resolution and allow the user to see objects in more detail

However, the phone has two major advantages versus industry-grade tools:

1. It’s in your pocket, allowing for a quick-and-dirty 3D Capture, whenever more capable tools are not available;
2. It’s much cheaper than any 3D Scanning gear, allowing those on the fence about acquiring a 3D Scanner to easily get a better impression of the opportunities for its use;

With these advantages, a much wider number of building projects (both small renovations and large new-builds) can easily experiment with 3D Scanning workflows.

Using software like Imerso, users can automatically inspect the captured scan data against the BIM models to identify potential work issues. From any browser, users can visit the virtual jobsite and check in real-time which elements have actually been built according to planned specifications, and which have not. You can book a demo with us here to learn more.

Imerso’s display: the onsite status is captured with the 3D laser scanner and automatically compared to the BIM models — showing in red any deviations between what was planned and what is actually being done.

Despite the limitations of the current technology, and its main purpose for AR applications, we look forward to seeing how this new feature supports a growing adoption of 3D Capture — both in property development and at the construction site.

Working with 3D Scanning on a daily basis, we believe Apple’s launch will provide several new powerful opportunities for these industries, and a great step forward to create new digital workflows.

How about you? What do you think about the iPhone 12 Pro scanner?

Please share your thoughts and send us an email: info@imerso.com
we are looking forward to hearing from you!

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