System analysis of the quality of meshes in HBIM

Abstract

Historical Building Information Modelling (HBIM) is nowadays used as a means to collect, store and preserve information about historical buildings and structures. The information is often collected via laser scanning. The resulting point cloud is manipulated and transformed into a polygon mesh, which is a type of model very easy to work with. This paper looks at the problems associated with creating mesh out of point clouds depending on various characteristics in context of façade reconstruction. The study is based on a point cloud recorded via terrestrial laser scanning in downtown Bremen, Germany that contains buildings completed in a number of different architectural styles, allowing to extract multiple architectural features. Analysis of meshes' quality depending on point cloud density was carried out. Conclusions were drawn as to what the rational solutions for effective surface extraction can be for each individual building in question. Recommendations on preprocessing of point clouds were given.