1. Spar Point Research
J. R. Lemuel Morrison, LS
Using Point Clouds fora Boundary Survey and
Volumetric Analysis -- Intersection with BIM

2. Outline
• Introduction
• Current market
• Geospatial services
• Is BIM a solution?
• Case study – Upper East Side Hi-Rise Building
• Conclusion
Copyright 2009 Mercator Land Surveying

3. Background
• Lemuel Morrison, L.S.
• Licensed Surveyor in NY, NJ & OH
• Owner & Principal Surveyor of Mercator Land Surveying
• Instructor at CityTech/CUNY
• Mercator Land Surveying
• Geospatial specialists
• Consultants – we work with clients to find solutions that fit
their requirements/needs and budget.
Copyright 2009 Mercator Land Surveying

4. Current Market Conditions
• Our client base has been hit hard:
• Residential
• Government
• and now … Commercial
• We are not out of the woods yet
• How can we adapt?
• What services can we offer clients that help them perform
better/expedite their projects and improves their bottom line?
Copyright 2009 Mercator Land Surveying

5. The Potential Market
• What are our clients facing?
• How we can help them increase revenue?
• How we can help them reduce expenses?
• How we can help them navigate the regulatory environment?
• What are we facing? It’s a recession/depression!
• How will we approach the regulatory environment?
• Set-aside laws
• Unions
• How can we differentiate/add value to our services (and
solutions) ?
• How will we present a technical and esoteric data set to lay
decision makers?
Copyright 2009 Mercator Land Surveying

6. Step 1: Understand Our Client
Commercial Real Estate
• The market for commercial real-estate is deteriorating
• There is a strong push to maintain income and a more concerted
effort to control expenses
• Balancing act not to look cheap or to cut corners
• Energy/carbon footprint and other green initiatives will add to
regulatory burden
• NYC will require energy benchmarking
• Regular energy audits ~ 5 years
• Carbon offsets may be source of revenue
• NYSERDA providing funds for energy upgrades
Copyright 2009 Mercator Land Surveying

7. Step 2: What Geospatial Service Would Have Value
forourClient?
• Enable Client to evaluate and make fact-based decisions about
their assets (i.e. usable real property)
• Strategic spacing of tenants so that expanders are positioned next to
those who might shrinkleave
• Roof tenants: Hi-tech equipment & signs
• Unrentable spaces: Basements, garages
• Sale-leaseback programs for Tenant Improvements (TI)
• Enable Client to manage assets
• Revenue (Lease, sub-leases and TI)
• Expenses (infrastructure maintenance)
• Compliance (energy audits, safety, building codes)
• There’s definitely a market out there for geospatial services – we
need to articulate the management tools
Copyright 2009 Mercator Land Surveying

8. WE need to articulate the management tools
…and one of those tools is: BIM (Building Information Model)
Another way of saying BIM:
• Comprehensive digital proto-building
• Properly constructed model capturing the “essence” of a
functioning, dynamic structure
• Highlights of BIM
• Represents the building in its functioning totality
• Simplifies paperwork/filings/schedules
• Facilitates decision making and management decisions
• Eases compliance for energy, code and safety.
• Sounds like manna from heaven, but . . .
Copyright 2009 Mercator Land Surveying

9. BIM: Buckets of Indeterminate Money
Client-side hurdles:
• Expense – An existing building requires a vast amount of
effort.
• Timeline – Months or years may transpire before a functional
BIM is put in place.
• Expertise – Client may not have competent and technical staff.
• Dated – A BIM is instantly out-of-date. There must be
someone dedicated to maintaining it.
• Occupied space limits ability to survey
• Existing documents (even a CAD file or a design BIM) does
not properly represent the structure “as-built.”
• In other words, it’s a hard sell
Copyright 2009 Mercator Land Surveying

10. Step 3: How to get to BIM?
• What will work:
• Solutions must be inexpensive
•Technology must be transparent
• Process must fit into Client’s culture
• Deliverable must have an immediate ROI
•Consultant must be viewed as a collaborative partner, not as a
gatekeeper
• Will a schematic BIM (or low-res) provide a entrée to cost-sensitive
owners?
• Mercator’s approach evolved to focus on the key issue for asset
managers: rental/lease income
• Important consideration: ability to model add-ons
Copyright 2009 Mercator Land Surveying

11. Case Study
UpperEast Side Hi-Rise Building
.
• Fee-simple owner owned several contiguous brownstones together
with air rights allowing him to develop a 20-story building.
• Brownstones demo’d. New building built on several lots.
• Int’l real-estate developer with financial wherewithal bought the lots
and development rights.
• Original owner leveraged property & development rights into a
lucrative retail volume envelope on the ground floor.
• The fly in the ointment was whether the developer delivered the
promised volume of space without encumbrances.
Copyright 2009 Mercator Land Surveying

12. Mercator’s Approach
• Conventional surveying was requested in the RFP
• This project was not the typical assignment – scanning had
advantages
•On-going construction & staging
•Site full of shanties and inaccessible areas
• Client/Owner was very receptive to having a scan that documented
the conditions and location of all features (structural, HVAV, MEP)
before possession was transferred
• Mercator crew made scan observations on top of shanties and in
buildings corners.
• Scans registered using control points and control IDs
Copyright 2009 Mercator Land Surveying

13. Analysis
• The point cloud provided abundant data for the boundary analysis.
• Even though the building was still under construction, we were able to get clear
and abundant data on the property lines as occupied.
• The ground floor building interior was cluttered and physically obstructed.
• It was unclear to us during the survey:
• if interior partitions were in the correct place.
• if piping, HVAC and conduits were above the property envelope—or not.
• if floor was even or at the elevation as designed.
• The point clouds gave us the data to accurately and definitively list
clashes with the owner’s space
Copyright 2009 Mercator Land Surveying

14. Deliverables
• Mercator provided our Client with typical 2D survey drawings
showing:
• the existing structure
• the property lines, easements and air rights
• the proposed features from construction documents
• the encumbrances (i.e. penetrations )to the property
• However, the client did not understand our findings and could not
read the drawings.
• Client’s attorney admitted “I couldn’t do math, so I went to law
school.” The list of separate square footages, volumes and
encumbrances were too much to add up and understand.
• In an untypical moment of lucidity, I smelled opportunity.
Copyright 2009 Mercator Land Surveying

15. Uncharted Territory
• Held a meeting with owner’s attorney, developer’s attorney, and
architect to review and discuss the clashes.
• Used the point cloud to illustrate clashes with the upper limit of the
property.
• Identified which clashes were problems for the owner and which
ones were non-issues.
• The list of clashes provided the closing team with facts and details
to renegotiate the deal in their favor. The survey paid for itself 10x
over
• Following this assignment, Client requested Mercator’s help to
manage the space for lease.
Copyright 2009 Mercator Land Surveying

16. Evolution of Services
A simple schematic BIM (or low-resolution model) in Revit proved a
solution to the original property owner/client
• They didn’t need any software or training
• They got the info they needed, when they needed -- primarily
about possible lease combinations and sunsets
• Mercator received a recurring revenue stream
• The relationship will develop as contractors complete fit -outs.
• We will explore using BIM in collaboration with other partners to
manage TI and compliance..
• Other clients
• Recognize the benefit of BIM, but aren’t ready to take the
plunge.
• Use the schematics portion to better manage their lease and to
design a more efficient revenue model
Copyright 2009 Mercator Land Surveying

17. Next Steps
• Large-scale AEC adoption – step by step evolution
• Industrial facilities - productivity
• Commercial buildings – energy & compliance
• Infrastructure – management
• Collaboration, collaboration, collaboration.
• Full Web-based functionality – technology must be transparent to
client
.
• Land Surveyors role:
• Information Assurance/ Quality Control
• Get it right the first time -- measure only once
• A poorly built building will fall down.
• A poorly built BIM . . . Garbage in, garbage out.
Copyright 2009 Mercator Land Surveying

18. Closing Thoughts
• BIM is not a product or software. It is a mindset, a means, a
process, not an end.
• Surveyors and geospatial specialists have a unique set of skills
and analytical backgrounds. This expertise positions us to be key
partners in developing a BIM (and any “geo” product/service).
• A BIM that includes information and interests in real property is a
tool that is more valuable to stakeholders. The model becomes
more robust because it shows physical attributes and the
intangible, but very consequential, interests in the real property.
• Build on what you know and the clients with whom you have
relations – build your network
Copyright 2009 Mercator Land Surveying

19. ThankYou
Lemuel Morrison, LS
Mercator Land Surveying, LLC
www.mercatorgroup.com
646 837-0780
lmorrison@mercatorgroup.com
http://www.linkedin.com/in/mercatorlem.linkedin.com
Copyright 2009 Mercator Land Surveying