ServicesScan-to-BIM

3D Virtual Tours and Matterport Scanning for Buildings

A 3D virtual tour lets anyone walk through a building in a browser: room by room, from the positions where the camera stood, with the walls and openings measurable on screen. We capture Matterport tours of existing buildings in every US state, on their own or alongside a laser scan, for the people who need to see a space without going there, from a design team in another city to a tenant deciding on a lease.

What a tour gives you

The tour is a link that opens in a browser on any device, with no software to install, and shows the building as photographs you move through, a dollhouse view of the whole model, and a top-down floor plan view. Because the camera measures depth as well as taking pictures, distances can be read in the tour, wall to wall and floor to ceiling, and Matterport's own support page states how accurate those dimensions are. The tour is hosted on Matterport's platform under the terms quoted with it, and the measured data behind it can be exported as a point cloud in E57, the ASTM exchange format for 3D imaging data, when a project needs it. Matterport calls the tour itself a digital twin; on a building project the term usually means the tour together with the point cloud and the model built from it, and the pages for the Revit model and the as-built drawings describe those parts.

How a tour is captured

The tour is captured with a camera of the Matterport Pro3 class. By its specifications it is a lidar camera with a class 1 laser, a field of view of 360 degrees horizontally and 295 vertically, a depth accuracy of plus or minus 20 mm at 10 m, and a capture of under 20 seconds per position, producing 134.2 megapixel panoramas from five exposures per frame and up to 1.5 million depth points per scan. The camera is moved through the building on a tripod, one position every few meters so that each view overlaps the next, and the positions are registered to each other automatically. A house usually takes a few hours and a commercial floor usually takes a day. Occupied buildings are captured during business hours when the client prefers it; people step out of the room or behind the camera for the seconds a position takes.

When a laser scan is ordered as well, the tour is captured on the same visit, and the laser scanner can photograph each station with its three 10 megapixel cameras, so the point cloud comes with its own panoramic station images. The two are delivered together: the tour for walking and showing, the cloud for measuring and modeling.

A tour or a laser scan

The tour camera measures to about 20 mm at 10 m by its specifications; a terrestrial laser scanner of the Trimble X7 class measures to 2.4 mm at 10 m (one standard deviation) by its datasheet, several times tighter. A tour is the right record when the question is what a space looks like and how it is laid out: a leasing walk-through, a progress record on a construction site, a review of a facility by people who cannot visit. A laser scan is the right record when drawings or a Revit model will be built on it, because the drawing can be no more accurate than the scan it comes from. For a renovation the two are usually ordered together. The 3D laser scanning page describes the scan, and the guide to existing conditions documentation compares the records a renovation can be built on.

What tours are used for

On a construction project the tour is captured before demolition, at the close-in of each floor and at handover, so that after the walls are closed a pipe can still be found on screen for as long as the tour is hosted. An owner with a portfolio keeps the tour of each property as it was let, as the record both sides refer to in a condition dispute at the end of a lease, and a facility team sends it to a contractor or an insurer before a visit. In leasing and sales of commercial space the tour stands in for the first site visit.

Price and time

A tour is quoted on the floor area and the number of floors. Ordered with a laser scan it is captured on the same visit and quoted with the scan; the 3D laser scanning page gives the typical ranges for a scanned building. The exact price comes in a quote within one business day of your sending the address and the floor area. The capture is scheduled as soon as the project needs it, usually takes a few hours for a house and a day for a commercial floor, and the tour usually goes live within a few days of the visit. We capture in all 50 states.

Frequently asked questions about 3D virtual tours

What is a Matterport tour?

A browsable 3D walk-through of a building captured with a Matterport camera: photographs you move through from position to position, a dollhouse view of the whole model, a top-down floor plan view, and distances that can be measured on screen. It opens as a link in any browser.

Can I measure in the tour?

Yes. The camera records depth with its lidar sensor, accurate to about 20 mm at 10 m by its specifications, and the viewer measures on screen; Matterport's support page states how accurate those dimensions are. For dimensions that drawings or a model will be built on, a laser scan is the right record.

Is a tour accurate enough for design drawings?

For layout, feasibility and rough quantities, yes. For as-built drawings and Revit models, no: those are built on a terrestrial laser scan accurate to 2.4 mm at 10 m (one standard deviation), which can be captured on the same visit.

Can I get the point cloud from the tour?

Yes. The depth data behind the tour can be exported as an E57 point cloud when a project needs it, at the camera's accuracy of about 20 mm at 10 m.

How long does it take?

A house is usually captured in a few hours and a commercial floor in a day. The tour usually goes live within a few days of the visit.

How much does a 3D virtual tour cost?

It is quoted on the floor area and the number of floors, and the quote arrives within one business day. Ordered with a laser scan, the tour is captured on the same visit and quoted with the scan.

Do you capture tours in my state?

Yes. We capture in every US state. The coverage page explains how a visit is scheduled.