I've been very busy. Halfway through my PhD now, on hydrologic and isotopic modelling of lakes, yet I still seem to be finding myself up to my eyeballs in laser scanning and photogrammetry. My university now has a laser scanner, and I've been the go-to guy for that. I've also been involved in putting together an augmented reality sand-table and I developed a robotic autosampler, and a bunch of other bits and pieces.
A quick and dirty video from a recent scan.
Laser scan of cave: point clouds and mesh
I still do the odd bit of surveying. Bit of long term subsidence monitoring, and other random jobs on a very casual basis.
Keeping current with technology is a full-time job. Thank you for dropping in and sharing. I wish continuing education was one half technology put on by the vendors and 1/2 application of that technology. Because many surveyors are falling behind in knowing what is available. Let alone how to use it.
The challenge with new technology is that while developing a deep knowledge base for general surveying is straightforward and comes with experience, to grapple with some of the new technology also requires a wide knowledge base. If you can establish that wide knowledge framework (which may involve a decent understanding of everything from programming, photography, 3d cad, 3d modelling, etc), then it's becomes easier. Still have to run fast though. I try and leverage from one field to the next, so my hobby of photography feeds into my photogrammetry work. My background in CAD feeds into 3d modelling which feeds into 3d printing, prototyping and design. A background in laser scanning feeds into the photogrammetry as they all generate point clouds. etc.
Speaking of technology I recently decided to upgrade my backup systems. My current system is 5 years old. Looks like I need to buy around 16TB of storage. All told I'll end up with around 40TB. Laser scanning and photogrammetry is "heavy". 😀
Where are you pursuing your PhD?
University of Adelaide
