DATA MANAGEMENT, EFFICIENT USE, AND SMART ACCESS TO REALITY CAPTURE DATA VIA WEB PLATFORMS

Sharing the output data of a digital survey with other stakeholders can increase its professional and widespread use. How a non-surveying specialist can visualize, interrogate and measure the reality-based models in the three-dimensional space -and not only- without sector-specific software is, for most instances, a significantly challenging problem. The possibility to upload digital survey data on web platforms would allow for greater dissemination and greater exploitation of the capabilities of reality capture technology. The point cloud can be displayed and investigated directly on the web and accessible on any device (laptop, desktop, tablet, or smartphone). The tools for measuring, cropping, annotating, and downloading data are usually included as standard features. Moreover, the different commercial proposals provide many innovative functions: VR interaction, BIM interoperability, automatic scan alignment, and 3D point cloud automatic segmentation and classification. The web-based system solution represents a real revolution in digital data sharing among experts, technicians, and professionals, who can dispose of all the survey data directly on their devices anytime, anywhere, preventing data loss and enhancing user sharing. This paper aimed to present the characteristics and the potential of some online platforms for direct sharing and management of the point clouds derived from image- or range-based techniques. This preliminary research is presented to underline the pros and cons and identify future developments in this new way of exploiting digital survey data. This approach can be advantageous in the Cultural Heritage field, especially when CAD or HBIM 3D modelling is unnecessary because it is not the final aim. The solution can be to skip the whole complex and time-consuming modelling phase and directly use the point cloud as the 3D geometric base and as a reference for the information repository.