High-Precision Facade Scanning for the Embassy of South Africa in Oslo

The contractor needed a reliable digital twin of the embassy facade to support restoration, replacement of elements, and design of upgrades. The site presented several constraints: narrow streets around the building, winter conditions with cold and potentially slippery surfaces, and a requirement to complete field work in a single day to minimise disruption. In addition, the building sits on a site with noticeable elevation differences, which meant parts of the facade had to be captured from a terrace approximately 7 m above ground level to maintain line of sight and coverage.

To address these constraints, I planned a series of scanner setups that balanced coverage, overlap and safe access. In total, 22 setups were executed around the embassy, including positions on the elevated terrace to capture upper sections of the facade from a suitable vantage point. The layout was designed to maintain good overlap between stations despite narrow streets and restricted areas, while respecting on-site safety and security procedures.

All scans were registered in Leica Cyclone REGISTER 360 PLUS using a combination of cloud-to-cloud and target-based alignment. The final registration bundle consisted of 22 setups and 21 links, with key quality indicators as follows:

The final dataset was exported as a georeferenced point cloud in RCS/RCP format, ready for direct use in AutoCAD, Revit and other design tools used by the contractor's team. From this, they could generate accurate 2D elevations, measure critical dimensions, and plan restoration and upgrade works with millimetre-level insight into the existing facade.