3D Scanning in Central Coast, CA

Contour Survey travels to the Central Coast for survey-grade laser scanning across Santa Cruz, Monterey, and San Benito counties, planning each job as a field mobilization and delivering point clouds and scan-to-CAD drawings tied to survey control.

3D Scanning in Central Coast: Local Conditions

The Central Coast holds some of the oldest buildings in California. Monterey was the capital of the Californias from 1777 to 1849, and its Old Town still has many mid-1800s adobes. Monterey State Historic Park includes the Custom House, built around 1821 and described as California's oldest public building, along with the Larkin House, Casa Soberanes, the Cooper-Molera Adobe, and the First Brick House. Part of the park lies within the Monterey Old Town Historic District, a National Historic Landmark since 1970. Thick adobe walls, hand-hewn framing, and floors that have moved for nearly two centuries are exactly what a non-contact scan is for. Cannery Row, where the Monterey Bay Aquarium opened in 1984 in a former sardine cannery, adds waterfront industrial buildings. North of Monterey, Seaside and Marina are building on the former Fort Ord, the 28,000-acre Army post that closed in 1994 and now hosts CSU Monterey Bay.

Inland, the work is agriculture and water. Watsonville grows strawberries, cauliflower, broccoli, lettuce, and raspberries, and its downtown keeps the Castro Adobe and the Mansion House Hotel. The Pajaro River forms the whole boundary between Santa Cruz and Monterey counties, and its Army Corps levees date to 1949. The levee failed on March 10, 2023, and the town of Pajaro was evacuated. The Corps, the Pajaro Regional Flood Management Agency, and the state Department of Water Resources are behind a levee reconstruction project meant to give Watsonville and Pajaro 100-year flood protection. On levees, walls, and structures, scans tied to survey control give a measured surface that a later scan can be compared against. In San Benito County, Hollister sits on the Calaveras Fault, where creep has visibly offset streets that cross it. Gilroy, on Highway 101 in southern Santa Clara County, rounds out the route.

We are based in Lotus, in El Dorado County, so Central Coast work is travel work and we plan it that way. Scope, access, and the drawing list are agreed before we go, control and scanning happen on back-to-back field days, and we capture enough coverage that follow-up questions are answered from the data. Control is GNSS primary and Trimble S3 secondary, held to 0.01 US survey feet relative to project control, and Trimble X9 scans are registered in Trimble Business Center. Deliverables are a registered, cleaned point cloud (E57, LAS, or RCP), scan-to-CAD plans, sections, elevations, 3D linework, coded points, and a report stating control basis and accuracy achieved. See scanning in Santa Cruz, scanning in Salinas, and 3D laser scanning.

Full service details, process, and deliverables: 3D Laser Scanning & As-Built Documentation

What's Included

3D + 2D deliverables for complete understanding
Millimeter-accurate measurements
Interactive 3D models anyone can navigate
Traditional 2D plans for permitting and design
Scan-to-CAD plans, sections, and elevations
Complete as-built documentation
Point cloud deliverables
E57, LAS, and RCP point cloud files
Non-invasive data collection

Our Process

Project Planning

We assess your site and requirements to plan optimal scan positions and deliverable specifications.

Field Scanning

Our technicians capture millions of precise 3D points using state-of-the-art laser scanners.

Data Processing

Scan data is registered, cleaned, and processed into unified point clouds.

Deliverable Creation

We produce both interactive 3D models for easy visualization and traditional 2D plan sets — so every stakeholder can understand the site, whether they read blueprints or not.

3D Scanning in Central Coast: FAQ

Yes. Nothing touches the walls; the scanner measures from fixed setups inside and outside the building. That records the true thickness and lean of the adobe, the framing, the openings, and how the floors have moved. From the registered cloud we produce plans, sections, and elevations for the preservation architect and structural engineer, and the cloud remains as a record of the building.

We treat it as a mobilization. Before we leave we confirm the scope, the access, and the deliverables, then set control and scan over consecutive field days. Several sites in the same area can share one trip. Because the point cloud captures far more than the immediate request, most later questions are answered from the data without a second trip.

Yes, for the agencies, engineers, and contractors responsible for them, under whatever access and safety arrangements the owner requires. The key is control: setups are tied to GNSS and total station control, so the surface carries real coordinates and elevations, and a repeat scan registered to the same control can be compared directly with the first.

Need 3D Scanning in Central Coast?

Call (510) 543-2220 or request a quote — we'll scope your Central Coast project and give you a fixed price.

Get a Quoteor(510) 543-2220

Meeting-first estimates • Response within 24 hours • Serious projects only

Call (510) 543-2220 Get a Quote