Empathy in Point-Clouds
Scan-Lab
Empathy in Point-Clouds Scan-Lab specializes in cutting-edge LiDAR scanning technology to create detailed surveys and immersive spatial narratives of architecture, environments, and landscapes. The EIPC Scan-Lab is co-directed by Dawn Gilpin and Robert Adams and a cross-disciplinary team of student research assistants and post-graduates.
The EIPC Scan-Lab offers a practical solution to complex spatial understanding. Our LiDAR scanning technology helps clients in diverse market segments, including architecture, conservation, healthcare, and urban technology, to visualize and comprehend intricate spaces. By transforming raw data into meaningful insights, we empower people to spatialize their stories and deepen empathy within the narrative.
The EIPC Scan Lab captures high-resolution 3D photorealistic digital models of buildings, environments, and landscapes and supports advanced visualization and data curation of complex spatial environments. EIPC workflows integrate terrestrial and aerial LIDAR and photogrammetry to map geometry. Multiple scans, or point clouds, are registered into a comprehensive digital model that produces a 3D photorealistic artifact that can be navigated through multiple XR platforms.
Current projects include a comprehensive survey of the ancient city of Teotihuacan outside Mexico City, a collaboration with the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe of Michigan to survey the Mt. Pleasant Indian Industrial Boarding School, and numerous projects across campus.
The EIPC Scan-Lab is sponsored by FARO Technologies, the global leader in LiDAR instrumentation and 3D metrology. The Scan-Lab is funded through multiple grants from Taubman College, UM Humanities Collaboratory, and the University of Michigan Office of Research. As an emerging University of Michigan Research Core, EIPC provides LiDAR scanning and data visualization services to faculty partners across campus to synthesize research that animates the spatial component of complex systems, contributing to the university’s academic excellence.
