REVIEW
by PETER FOLWELL
A Glance Back and a Look Forward Through the Plowman Craven Lens
Innovation, Resilience and Diversity Let’s get the word over with – COVID: hopefully, it is a short-term disruption, but it is a considerable one. It is having an effect on how businesses and industries realign and how they will approach the future. It is no surprise that the use and reliance on technology has accelerated exponentially and those businesses that will survive, develop and grow will be the ones who embrace the opportunities technology brings.
TECHNOLOGY DRIVES PROGRESS Having been in the geomatics industry, particularly with Plowman Craven, for more years than I can remember, it is the technology revolutions that have driven the surveying profession forward. They have changed the surveyor’s role, our capabilities and our importance. We only have to look at past issues of the “go-to” surveying publication, Geomatics World, to see the innovation and improvement in data
capture, capabilities, speeds and application. In my early days operating as a surveyor in North Africa or on the first commercial commissions from the Ordnance Survey, the move from analogue to digital was a welcome transition. No more negotiating for local maps or ink drawing on film (an art in itself). We moved to GPS and CAD – the technology we now take for granted. Plowman Craven has always been an early adopter, applying and assisting in the development of new technology. We were the laser scanning evangelist – the first adopter in Europe using the Cyrax (40kg of surveying equipment and a handful of points per second – you don’t know you have lived)! There were many doubters and ‘nay sayers’ in the construction and property industry at the time who said that clients weren’t ready for it. Just look at its importance to the sector now!
Cyrax scanner used on St Vincents church.
As laser scanning technology developed at a rapid pace, Plowman Craven looked at its application and expanded its
horizons – the film industry and forensic science took on board its possibilities and the advantages and accuracies it could bring. We saw our surveyors mixing with the stars on film sets, body scanning actors such as Daniel Craig, Natalie Portman and Tom Cruise. We found our teams involved in high-profile crime investigations such as the Princess Diana enquiry and the 2005 Bombings. Our surveyors were suddenly becoming experts in visual effects, match moving, and data wrangling. THE IMPORTANCE OF BIM One of the great things about our profession is the diversity and opportunity it brings - if you are on one bus there is no reason why you can’t hop onto another. We knew that Building Information Modelling (BIM) was going to be a major factor in the Government initiative to assist the construction industry to meet its climate change targets and it was clear from the start that the surveying profession, and the technology it utilises, could play and should play a key role in this application. Plowman Craven took this as an opportunity to position itself, not just as a data provider, but also as a consultant and a data
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