When drones design: How this Cambridge startup is using aerial mapping to transform the design world

by Justine Hofherr
June 22, 2017

 

drone

Humans make mistakes — but drones? Not so much.

That’s why Cambridge-based startup Scanifly has decided to use drones to take human error out of the equation in fields like architecture and civil engineering.

Founded in 2015, the company develops high-definition 3D mapping software for drones, which can scan hard-to-reach places like roofs and new construction sites.

With Scanifly’s software, drone-collected data can be transformed into 3D representations of geographical areas.

“At first, we were built for solar,” said Ross McFadden, Scanifly’s director of marketing. “But now an architecture firm can go out and model the real world using a drone and design for that exact space. This is the future of 3D modeling software.”

Up until very recently, John Novak, the company’s  CEO and a former solar systems designer, found on-site assessments to be both dangerous and time consuming.

If a customer wanted to install solar panels, for instance, someone would have to use a ladder to climb onto a client’s roof and take measurements using a measuring tape, pen and pad of paper.

Then, Novak would manually upload measurements to a software that makes blueprints of objects like roofs and buildings.

The whole process could take months, ultimately deterring people from wanting to retrofit their homes to be more sustainable.

He thought there had to be a better way — so he came up with one.

In addition to solar and architecture, Scanifly targets landscape architecture construction, homeowners and even game designers who could build their next game world using real-world drone data.

Scanifly’s high-definition 3D scanner Flydar can be physically attached to a drone, while the startup’s proprietary software — Scanifly3D — integrates with any drones that geotag images, allowing users to design new construction or sustainable sites with a positive impact on the environment.

autoCAD

After models are made with Scanifly3D, designers can immediately upload them into design software like AutoCAD.

The drones drastically cut down the time it would take for a specialist to take measurements of a site, scanning residential sites in under 20 minutes and larger sites in half an hour or less.

“We’re trying to bring the scale of real world projects down so that people can have informed design,” McFadden said. “More data and better data makes real-world projects happen better and faster.”

The company currently has eight employees and is spending 2017 raising its second round of funding. They’ll also be reaching out to major players in construction, the solar industry and civil engineering, McFadden said.

 

Photos via social media

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