Moasure motion based measuring system

[SHCanada2]

2 hours ago, DRAWZILLA said:

it saves me a lot of layout walls time at the start of a project and measuring a home is much faster and more accurate than hand measuring. 

that what I found with the CA app, it gets all the walls/rooms layed out, its quite nice. The question then though is what to adjust when you take a couple control measurements with a laser. I tend to get lost in the constantly adjusting walls, and then not remembering which ones I adjusted. At the end of the day, I have to match a survey's exterior dimensions so as to not impact setbacks. So I have yet to get a great work flow going. The best improvement I have had so far, is when a house is sold, it generally has the realtor's floor plans, so I print that out and take laser measurements and write them on the paper....but still, sometimes I miss a window location. My ultimate desired technology would be for it to create a floor plan and a point cloud at the same time, so I could go back to the point cloud and measure anything I missed. And of course not have to pay by the sq ft. Any of these sq ft companies, charge what is the equivalent to me doing it at $100 and hour so I might as well pay myself. ..end of my little rant.

 

when you say it is more accurate than hand measuring, did you run a laser across the full length (if possible) or the longest distance in your house, and compare the two. I'm curious as to the accuracy

[ValleyGuy]

On 10/1/2026 at 3:39 PM, SHCanada2 said:

that what I found with the CA app, it gets all the walls/rooms layed out, its quite nice. The question then though is what to adjust when you take a couple control measurements with a laser. I tend to get lost in the constantly adjusting walls, and then not remembering which ones I adjusted. At the end of the day, I have to match a survey's exterior dimensions so as to not impact setbacks.

I have stopped adjusting walls in the CA As-Built as well due to this issue, and the fact that sometimes the walls come in all wonky (especially in super stuffed closets that can't be measured properly).

 

 

On 10/1/2026 at 3:39 PM, SHCanada2 said:

The best improvement I have had so far, is when a house is sold, it generally has the realtor's floor plans, so I print that out and take laser measurements and write them on the paper....but still, sometimes I miss a window location.

 

This sounds exactly like what I am doing with a CA As-Built screen shot dumped into the Morpholio Trace app.  I actually like drawing from scratch in Chief (desktop) using the gathered site info rather than using CAD to walls. So the two apps tag teaming the task at hand have been working well for me.

 

 

 

       

[SHCanada2]

6 hours ago, ValleyGuy said:

This sounds exactly like what I am doing with a CA As-Built screen shot dumped into the Morpholio Trace app.

i'm debating getting a used ipad. what you do is not feasible on the phone ....although I could probably capture it on the phone and then send to my tablet (which i paid $200 open box 5 years ago vs current price for a used 5 year old IPAD pro at $700...not my favorite thing to support apple)

 

Are you using the 13" screen?

 

I would still like something that also gave a point cloud as a backup in case I have to measure something...

Edited October 3 by SHCanada2

[ValleyGuy]

On 10/3/2026 at 4:14 AM, SHCanada2 said:

i'm debating getting a used ipad. what you do is not feasible on the phone ....although I could probably capture it on the phone and then send to my tablet (which i paid $200 open box 5 years ago vs current price for a used 5 year old IPAD pro at $700...not my favorite thing to support apple)

 

Are you using the 13" screen?

 

I would still like something that also gave a point cloud as a backup in case I have to measure something...

Yes I have a 13” iPad, I find hand held devices are like desktop monitors in having more screen real estate - the better. There always seen to be menus, keyboards, headers, etc eating up the working area. I wouldn’t think that using just a phone would too useful nor enjoyable as they really don’t have any working screen area. Just capturing the lidar scan also doesn’t complete the task, and in my opinion is really the only part in the CA app a phone would accomplish efficiently. 
I understand the supporting Apple feeling, and it is a personal thing that each of us need to find our own comfort level. Finding an iPad that had the lidar camera may be a better option than having a phone with lidar to pass along to the non-lidar iPad.

 

As far as a back up; the logistics involved may be a solution. The Ca app allows the original lidar scan (with all its measurements) to make copies. Use a copy to adjust walls, add doors, resizes windows, etc before the screen shot into the MT app. Doodle all the lazar measurements here while maintaining an ‘original scan’ in the CA app should you want to measure from the original again later at the office. 

[SHCanada2]

5 hours ago, ValleyGuy said:

As far as a back up; the logistics involved may be a solution. The Ca app allows the original lidar scan

its more for picking up things I missed, and would not be on the CA app, for instance if the stairs are proud of the wall, or if I missed a dropped beam. or even to double check a CA window size.

 

So more like something like this 

 

point clouds can be viewed in point cloud viewers and then in that software you can measure between 2 points. 

 

It looks like you are capturing the window widths and distance to wall with a laser.  CA captures that in the app. Are you capturing that "just in case"? ...this is my conundrum with the app: how much do I still take by laser that it actually captures? door widths, window WXH, location of both of those, plus all the room dimensions?

 

The realtor plans never have the windows/doors, which is why the CA app was promising.

 

Here is perhaps a question for you. If you had the realtor plan ahead of time, would you put that onto your tablet ahead of time, and just jot down measurements on it as you go around with the laser, or would you use the CA app?

 

 

 

[ValleyGuy]

5 hours ago, SHCanada2 said:

its more for picking up things I missed, and would not be on the CA app, for instance if the stairs are proud of the wall, or if I missed 

 

Ahhh, I see. You are right, that isn’t on the CA app and is needed to be handled at the site or an alternative solution found. 
 

 

5 hours ago, SHCanada2 said:

 

 

It looks like you are capturing the window widths and distance to wall with a laser.  CA captures that in the app. Are you capturing that "just in case"? ...this is my conundrum with the app: how much do I still take by laser that it actually captures? door widths, window WXH, location of both of those, plus all the room dimensions?

 

I am capturing for a just in case. This particular Reno involves all but three rooms, and the main part of the house is 100 + years old, so trying to centre things is sometimes difficult when some rooms have rough cut studs covered by lath and plaster plus 16” drywall plus regular sheets of drywall - and some have wood boards under the drywall, and others just have regular dimensional studs with drywall. Heck, most of the doors have the jamb and the door stop made from the same piece of wood with the door made to fit, so even some of the doors are ‘averaged’ lol. I’m kind of in a market that needs to take measurements on a house by house basis and I’m pretty sure that there isn’t a mathematical algorithm in any app that would make this hodgepodge interior match the exterior dimensions. 

 

5 hours ago, SHCanada2 said:

 

Here is perhaps a question for you. If you had the realtor plan ahead of time, would you put that onto your tablet ahead of time, and just jot down measurements on it as you go around with the laser, or would you use the CA app?

I would probably do a combination because taking the lidar CA app only takes a few minutes. I’m also a little skeptical of using ‘other peoples’ drawings. I’ve had realtor’s plans that were created from the original house blue prints…. to which the house wasn’t built to. 
I would overlay both the realtor’s plan and the CA lidar scan in the Morpholio Trace app for a comparison, then take the laser measurements for the critical areas - the CA plan would be have the non-crucial area measurements. I’m pretty certain that I couldn’t just rely on ‘Not Measuring’ the critical areas, so I’m comfortable accepting the additional time it takes. 

[SHCanada2]

4 hours ago, ValleyGuy said:

I’ve had realtor’s plans that were created from the original house blue prints

i've noticed here its a bit of a standard practice for realtors to use iguide or matterport. Alberta real estate regulatory body has some rules for when floor space is included (over 5ft ceiling I think), so Iguide sells that feature constantly.

 

I dont think I have not seen a listing with a iguide or matterport( in the pst 5 years), which means they are not created from blueprints.

 

There is a website "honest door" which you can see some of the info realtors see for free. sometimes you can see the floorplan for recently sold listings. you can pay a fee to get a package which I assume is all of the pictures (and if the realtor did a floor plan, the floor plan) of any sold house.

 

So I think, if something was sold in the last 15 years, there is a good chance the floor plan by iguide or matteprort is on the MLS.

 

 

 

 

Edited October 5 by SHCanada2

[ValleyGuy]

7 hours ago, SHCanada2 said:

i've noticed here its a bit of a standard practice for realtors to use iguide or matterport. Alberta real estate regulatory body has some rules for when floor space is included (over 5ft ceiling I think), so Iguide sells that feature constantly.

 

I dont think I have not seen a listing with a iguide or matterport( in the pst 5 years), which means they are not created from blueprints.

 

There is a website "honest door" which you can see some of the info realtors see for free. sometimes you can see the floorplan for recently sold listings. you can pay a fee to get a package which I assume is all of the pictures (and if the realtor did a floor plan, the floor plan) of any sold house.

 

So I think, if something was sold in the last 15 years, there is a good chance the floor plan by iguide or matteprort is on the MLS.

 

 

 

 

 

This sounds like a pretty useful tool, thank you. I'm doubtful that it's used here, but I'll check it out.