TY - JOUR
T1 - Formalization of workflows for extracting bridge surveying goals from laser-scanned data
AU - Tang, Pingbo
AU - Akinci, Burcu
N1 - Funding Information:
This paper is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 0420933 and 0121549 . NSF's support is gratefully acknowledged. Some of the early data collected in this research was done under a funding provided by Pennsylvania Department of Transportation . Any opinions, findings, conclusions or recommendations presented in this publication are those of authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation and Pennsylvania Department of Transportation.
PY - 2012/3
Y1 - 2012/3
N2 - Laser scanners enable bridge inspectors to collect dense 3D point clouds, which capture detailed geometries of bridges. While these data sets contain rich geometric information, they bring unique challenges related to geometric information retrieval. This paper describes a case study to show the necessity and potential value of automating the manual data processing workflows being executed for extracting geometric data items (surveying goals) from 3D point clouds, and presents an approach for formalizing these workflows to enable such automation. We analyzed manual procedures of taking measurements on 3D point clouds and as-built models for obtaining bridge inspection related surveying goals, synthesized and categorized all data processing operations into nine generic operations. These nine categories of operations can be formalized using < operator, inputs, output, parameters, constraints> tuples. Using these tuples, we formalized an operation library and workflow construction mechanisms for enabling inspectors to semi-automatically construct executable workflows. This formalism also incorporates several mechanisms for facilitating extensions to the existing operation library to accommodate additional surveying goals that have not been covered. The developed approach is validated for its generality to support workflows needed for all surveying goals required by the National Bridge Inventory (NBI) program, and for its extensibility to support workflows needed to support a variety of other surveying goals identified in the Architecture/Engineering/Construction domain.
AB - Laser scanners enable bridge inspectors to collect dense 3D point clouds, which capture detailed geometries of bridges. While these data sets contain rich geometric information, they bring unique challenges related to geometric information retrieval. This paper describes a case study to show the necessity and potential value of automating the manual data processing workflows being executed for extracting geometric data items (surveying goals) from 3D point clouds, and presents an approach for formalizing these workflows to enable such automation. We analyzed manual procedures of taking measurements on 3D point clouds and as-built models for obtaining bridge inspection related surveying goals, synthesized and categorized all data processing operations into nine generic operations. These nine categories of operations can be formalized using < operator, inputs, output, parameters, constraints> tuples. Using these tuples, we formalized an operation library and workflow construction mechanisms for enabling inspectors to semi-automatically construct executable workflows. This formalism also incorporates several mechanisms for facilitating extensions to the existing operation library to accommodate additional surveying goals that have not been covered. The developed approach is validated for its generality to support workflows needed for all surveying goals required by the National Bridge Inventory (NBI) program, and for its extensibility to support workflows needed to support a variety of other surveying goals identified in the Architecture/Engineering/Construction domain.
KW - 3D data processing
KW - Bridge inspection
KW - Geometric assessment
KW - Geometric data collection
KW - Information retrieval
KW - Inspection automation
KW - Laser scanning
KW - Scientific workflow
KW - Surveying goal
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U2 - 10.1016/j.autcon.2011.09.006
DO - 10.1016/j.autcon.2011.09.006
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84857366510
SN - 0926-5805
VL - 22
SP - 306
EP - 319
JO - Automation in construction
JF - Automation in construction
ER -