Skanio is a start-up whose goal is to revolutionize the survey process of buildings and elevators by creating a European digital platform that combines data and services. The aim is to compile a comprehensive European elevator database using the latest LiDAR 3D Reality Capture technology for making digital twins.

By the time I first contacted the company, they already had plans ready, but the developer had not yet been finalized, so we arranged a meeting to see if collaboration was possible.

Right from the start, it was clear that the project would require the use of 3D technologies in a web environment, which suited me well as I had just been studying the subject in my own code lab. Before starting the project, I made a prototype that allowed their 3D model to be viewed directly in a browser.

Once it was clear that the technology I was using would suit their goals and we had settled practical matters, we quickly started the actual development work, which aimed to develop the first phase of the web application.

At this stage, NAICC was also involved, with whom a three-day hackathon was arranged to develop the prototype and explore how we could integrate panorama photos into the 3D model, which later proved to be the most challenging part of the project.

When I started making the tool to integrate panorama photos into the 3D model, the challenge was that all the data was in one large file, which would take too long to upload to the server, but processing it in the browser was too slow with traditional methods. The solution to this was a separate WebAssembly module, which enables code to run at nearly the speed of machine language directly in the browser.

Communication as the project progressed was handled in a weekly remote meeting, where the development work done during the week and plans for the next week were discussed. This way, the direction of the project was always in the hands of the project owner, and potential issues could be addressed quickly.

The project was implemented on a turnkey basis on top of cloud architecture, which allows for very large user loads without significant initial investments, and the client can monitor their own resource consumption themselves. As a result, the client was satisfied with the success of the project, and the collaboration will also continue going forward.