For Architects

Existing conditions, documented the same day.

Most pre-1990 buildings have no usable drawings. Scan the space with iPhone LiDAR and walk away with a dense point cloud, a viewer you can share by link, and exports in the formats your stack already reads: E57 into ReCap and Revit, IFC for ArchiCAD, layered DXF, and a dimensioned PDF set. No terrestrial scanner, no service bureau, no two-week wait.

A dense, measured point cloud from a single iPhone LiDAR scan, with a bounding box reading roughly 76 ft by 58 ft

One iPhone LiDAR scan, captured as a dense, measured point cloud. Share it in the browser, no app to install.

The existing-conditions problem

Renovation and adaptive-reuse work starts with documenting what is already there. The old options are slow, expensive, or both.

No drawings to start from

Most pre-1990 buildings have no usable record set. Hand-measuring an existing structure eats hours and still misses things. A LiDAR scan captures every wall, opening, and ceiling height in minutes.

Service bureaus are slow and pricey

Scan-to-BIM bureaus commonly charge thousands per residential job and take two to four weeks. An iPhone scan is same day, and the cloud, the viewer, and the exports are yours to keep.

Handoff formats never match

One consultant wants E57 for ReCap, another wants IFC for ArchiCAD, the trades want a DXF underlay. SiteScope exports all of them from the same measured capture, so nobody re-keys geometry.

Web Point-Cloud Viewer

Send the scan, not a giant download.

The measured point cloud opens in any browser from a single share link. This is the working tool your consultants actually use. They orbit the space, pull real dimensions straight off the cloud, and cut plan-style slices themselves. No account, no software, no waiting on a 2 GB file. Progressive streaming keeps even a whole-building scan fast.

  • Measure with level and plumb locks. Hold Shift to lock a run level, Option to lock a plumb height like floor-to-floor, so the number you read is the number that matters.
  • Slice the building for plan-style cuts. Crop with a draggable box, read live feet-inches dimensions, rotate to square with the walls, and set a height band for clean sections through any level.
  • Verify dimensions against the cloud. Check long runs, openings, and ceiling heights right in the browser before anyone builds design work on the import.
  • Optional password and expiry. Gate the link for clients and consultants when the project calls for it.

Need the visual, experiential version to walk a client through? That is the photoreal walkthrough, the companion for visual review. This viewer is where the measuring gets done.

Deliverables

Every format your consultants already receive

The point cloud, the model, and the drawing set all come out of one capture. Hand each collaborator the format their tool reads, with no re-keying and no drift between them.

E57

Point cloud

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

Point cloud

Compressed point cloud in the LAS family, cloud-optimized so a large scan streams instead of downloading whole. Opens in the tools that read LAS and LAZ.

PLY

Point cloud

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

IFC

BIM model

The open BIM model. Walls, doors, windows, rooms, and multiple stories come across as real objects for Revit and ArchiCAD, not a mesh to trace.

DXF

CAD

A layered CAD underlay to trace over in AutoCAD, aligned to the same measured geometry as every other export.

GLB

3D model

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

PDF

Drawing set

A dimensioned drawing set with Room, Wall, Door, and Window schedules generated from the plan geometry.

One capture, seven ways out.

You draft once. The scan feeds the cloud, the BIM model, the CAD underlay, and the PDF set, so the numbers agree across every deliverable.

Photoreal Walkthrough

Walk the site again from your desk, from the same scan.

One capture gives you both: a photoreal 3D walkthrough of the real space to see and share, and the measured E57 point cloud your stack runs on. Send a link and a client or consultant walks the building in the browser with nothing to install, while you export the cloud for ReCap and Revit. One visit, and the site stays open to your whole team, no second trip to check a condition.

  • Photoreal walkthrough for review and coordination, in any browser
  • A measured E57 point cloud from the same iPhone scan
  • Tag locations with notes and photos anchored in 3D
Explore the photoreal walkthrough
A dense point cloud of a multi-story stairwell captured on one iPhone scan, showing 5.6 million of 50.2 million points, ready to export to E57
A dense 50-million-point capture of a multi-story stairwell, from one iPhone scan. The same scan is a photoreal walkthrough and an E57 export.

Centimeter-class, and honest about it

Existing-conditions deliverables get specified by LOD, the level of detail, and LOA, the level of measured accuracy. What matters is stating the LOA plainly, not printing a big number. So here it is plainly: iPhone LiDAR is centimeter-class. Room-scale captures typically land within a couple of centimeters over a normal room. That is the right accuracy band for renovation, space planning, and existing-conditions documentation, and it is not a survey-grade terrestrial scanner. We will not pretend otherwise.

Treat the scan the way you treat any field survey. Capture fast, then verify the dimensions that are code-driven or fabrication-driven, plus long runs and glass, against a tape or laser before you build design work on the import. The step that disappears is the manual measuring and re-drawing, not your judgment.

How accurate is iPhone LiDAR for as-builts?

From site visit to CAD, in three steps

Capture, plan, quantify. The whole existing-conditions workflow runs from a phone.

1

Capture on site

Walk the building with iPhone or iPad Pro LiDAR. Millions of points at whole-home scale, captured same day. Capturing and sharing is free.

2

Share and document

Send the viewer link, measure and slice in the browser, and refine the measured floor plan and schedules with assisted review.

3

Export to your stack

E57 into ReCap and Revit, IFC into ArchiCAD, a layered DXF underlay for AutoCAD, and a dimensioned PDF set. One geometry, every format.

Construction Document Set

Schedules generated from the plan

Room, Wall, Door, and Window schedules plus a master summary, in feet-inches or metric. Net areas deduct openings and trim, and every element is tagged to match the drawing.

Scan to BIM

Existing conditions, straight into Revit and ArchiCAD

When you need the model and not just the cloud, export IFC. The scanned building opens in Revit, ArchiCAD, or any IFC-aware tool with walls, doors, windows, rooms, and multiple stories intact. Start renovation design from an accurate as-built instead of re-modeling a building that already exists.

  • IFC opens in Revit, ArchiCAD, and Navisworks
  • Walls, doors, windows, rooms, and multiple stories as objects, not a mesh
  • A starting model for renovation and retrofit, not another day of re-drawing

Mark up the set before handoff

Drop in photos, draw call-outs on a wall elevation, and add notes where the geometry needs context. No round-trip through a separate annotation tool.

Frequently Asked Questions

How does SiteScope help architects document existing conditions?
Scan the building with iPhone or iPad Pro LiDAR and capture a dense point cloud, millions of points at whole-home scale, same day on site. From there you get a web viewer you can share by link, a measured floor plan with assisted review, and exports in the formats your stack already reads, including E57, IFC, and DXF. Most pre-1990 buildings have no usable drawings, and this is the fast way to create them.
What formats can I export for Revit, ReCap, and ArchiCAD?
For the point cloud: E57, the scanner-industry exchange format that imports into Autodesk ReCap and then Revit, plus compressed LAZ/COPC and raw PLY. For the model: IFC, the open BIM format that opens in Revit and ArchiCAD with walls, doors, windows, rooms, and multiple stories as objects. For CAD: a layered DXF underlay for AutoCAD. Plus GLB for 3D and a dimensioned PDF drawing set. The geometry is shared, so the formats stay consistent.
How accurate is an iPhone LiDAR scan for as-builts?
It is centimeter-class. Room-scale captures typically land within a couple of centimeters over a normal room, which is the right accuracy band for renovation and existing-conditions documentation. It is not a survey-grade terrestrial scanner and we do not claim it is. Treat the scan as the survey: verify long runs, glass, and any code-driven or fabrication-driven dimension against a tape or laser, the same discipline you apply to any field survey.
Can I share the scan with a client or consultant without an account?
Yes. A share link opens the point cloud in any browser, no login and no download. Clients and consultants can orbit the space, measure, and slice it themselves. Links support an optional password and expiry when the project needs it.
How does this compare to a scan-to-BIM service bureau?
Service bureaus commonly charge thousands per residential job and take two to four weeks to turn a scan into a model. An iPhone scan is same day, and the point cloud, the viewer, and the exports are yours to keep and reuse. Capturing and sharing is free for solo pros. Teams pay for shared workspaces.
Is the exported model editable, or just a mesh?
The IFC and DXF exports are structured geometry, not a mesh. You refine the measured plan in the assisted editor first, so walls come across as walls and rooms as spaces. The point-cloud exports (E57, LAZ, PLY) are the captured cloud for the workflows that want to trace or verify against the raw points.

Ready to Get Started?

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