SiteScope Tech
Scan to BIM

Capture a Point Cloud, Get BIM Deliverables

Walk the space with an iPhone or iPad Pro and capture a measured point cloud of the existing conditions. That one scan is the source for everything downstream. Export IFC and layered DXF yourself, or order a native model drafted from the same cloud.

Need it in your tools? Order a native Revit (RVT), AutoCAD (DWG), or SketchUp model drafted from your scan, so you start design from an accurate as-built instead of re-modeling a building that already exists.

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Four Steps, Not a Day of Re-Drawing

Scan to BIM is the path from a real building to a model you can design in. SiteScope runs the whole chain from your phone.

1

Scan on site

Walk the space with iPhone or iPad Pro LiDAR. Every wall, opening, and ceiling height is captured in minutes.

2

Refine the plan

Adjust walls, place doors and windows, and label rooms in the editor. A measured plan, not a raw mesh.

3

Verify dimensions

Confirm the critical, code-driven dimensions against the field, the same as any existing-conditions survey.

4

Export IFC

Open the building in Revit, ArchiCAD, or Navisworks with objects intact. Start design, skip the re-modeling.

Objects Come Across as Objects

IFC is the open BIM exchange format, so the model is not locked to one vendor. And it carries real building objects, not just lines. That is the difference between a model you can work with and a drawing you have to trace over.

  • Walls with thickness and height, doors and windows hosted in them
  • Rooms as IFC spaces, plus floor slabs and stairs
  • Multiple stories stacked as separate building levels
  • Layered DXF, GLB, and PDF from the same geometry
See how scan-to-IFC works
Export Formats

Take the point cloud, not just the model

Some workflows want the structured model. Others want the raw cloud to register, trace, or verify against. SiteScope exports both from the same capture, in the formats the scanner industry already uses.

E57

The scanner-industry exchange format. Drop it into Autodesk ReCap to bring the cloud into Revit, or into an ArchiCAD or Vectorworks workflow.

LAZ / COPC

Compressed point cloud in the LAS family, cloud-optimized so a large scan streams instead of downloading whole.

PLY

The raw points, unprocessed, for the pipelines and research tools that want the cloud as captured.

GLB

A 3D model that opens in native viewers, macOS Quick Look and the Windows 3D viewer, with nothing to install.

Before you export, work the cloud in the browser

The web viewer opens any scan by share link with progressive streaming, so even a whole-building capture loads fast. Measure with level and plumb locks, hold Shift to lock a run level and Option to lock a plumb height like floor-to-floor. The Slice tool crops the building with a draggable box, reads live feet-inches dimensions, rotates to square with the walls, and sets a height band for clean plan-style slices.

See the architect workflow and deliverables
Order Native Files

Want it in Revit, AutoCAD, or SketchUp? Order it drafted from your scan

Export IFC and DXF yourself, or hand off the same point cloud and order a native model drafted for you. Native Revit (RVT), AutoCAD (DWG), and SketchUp files are available on the Business plan, drafted from the scan you already captured, often same day depending on scope. No re-scanning, no re-measuring.

Talk to us about deliverables See scan-to-CAD deliverables

Accurate Enough to Model From, Honest About the Limits

Phone LiDAR is not a survey-grade terrestrial scanner, and it does not need to be. Room-scale captures typically land within a couple of centimeters over a normal room, well inside the tolerance renovation and space-planning work requires. Accuracy drops on long runs and on glass, mirrors, and gloss.

Treat the scan the way you would treat any field survey: capture fast, then verify the dimensions that are code-driven or fabrication-driven before you build design work on top of the import. The step that disappears is the manual measuring and re-drawing, not your judgment.

How accurate is iPhone LiDAR for as-builts?
Construction Document Set

Schedules Generated From the Plan

The same scan that feeds your BIM tool also generates Room, Wall, Door, and Window schedules with a master summary. Net areas already deduct openings and trim, and every element is tagged to match the drawing.

Where Scan to BIM Fits

Architects

As-built documentation, schedules, and CAD export

3D Room Scanning

Capture existing conditions in 3D from your phone

Floor Plan Reports

Room, Wall, Door, Window schedules with PDF markup

Digital Twin

A measured 3D record of the space you can return to

Frequently Asked Questions

What is scan to BIM?
Scan to BIM is the workflow of capturing an existing building with a 3D scanner, then turning that capture into a structured building model you can open in BIM tools like Revit or ArchiCAD. SiteScope does this from an iPhone or iPad Pro LiDAR scan: capture the space, refine the measured plan, and export IFC with walls, doors, windows, rooms, and multiple stories as real objects.
Do I need a terrestrial laser scanner?
Not for most renovation and space-planning work. The LiDAR sensor on a Pro iPhone or iPad Pro captures room-scale geometry within a couple of centimeters over a typical room, which is inside the tolerance existing-conditions modeling needs. For survey-grade point clouds across a large site a terrestrial scanner still wins, but for getting an accurate as-built into BIM fast, a phone is enough.
What formats can I export?
IFC for Revit, ArchiCAD, and Navisworks, layered DXF for AutoCAD, GLB for 3D, and PDF for the construction document set. The geometry comes from the same measured plan, so every format stays consistent.
Can I export the point cloud itself, not just the model?
Yes. Export E57, the scanner-industry exchange format that imports into Autodesk ReCap and then Revit, plus compressed LAZ/COPC and raw PLY. That covers the workflows that want to register, trace, or verify against the captured cloud rather than the structured model.
How accurate is an iPhone LiDAR scan?
Room-scale LiDAR captures typically land within a couple of centimeters over a normal room. Accuracy drops on long runs, where tracking error accumulates, and on glass, mirrors, and high-gloss surfaces. Treat the scan as the survey and verify critical, code-driven, or fabrication-driven dimensions with a tape or laser before you build design work on it.
Does it handle multiple floors?
Yes. The IFC export is multi-story aware, so a whole building comes across with its floors stacked as separate building levels rather than flattened into one plate.
Is the exported model editable, or just a mesh?
It is a structured model, not a mesh. Walls come across as walls, doors as doors, rooms as IFC spaces. You refine the plan in the SiteScope editor first, so what lands in your BIM tool is geometry you can work with, not a point cloud to trace over.

Ready to Get Started?

Join professionals who are already mapping and measuring their sites with SiteScope.

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