Contour Survey

3D Scanning in Merced, CA

Contour Survey travels to Merced and Merced County for survey-grade 3D laser scanning, delivering registered point clouds and scan-to-CAD drawings for campus, medical, agricultural, and historic buildings.

3D Scanning in Merced: Local Conditions

Merced is the Merced County seat, incorporated in 1889 and long called the Gateway to Yosemite. Its best-known building is the Merced County Courthouse, built in 1875 to a design by Albert A. Bennett in the Italian Renaissance Revival style. It held the county's courts for a hundred years, joined the National Register in 1975, and is now a museum run by the Merced County Historical Society. A nearly identical courthouse in Fresno was demolished, which makes this one the survivor. Plaster walls, a cupola, and a century of changes are just what scanning handles well. A scan records the exterior, the courtroom, and the roof framing in measured detail without touching anything, giving a preservation architect or structural engineer real geometry to start from.

Newer work comes from the university, the hospital, and the farms. UC Merced opened in 2005 as the tenth University of California campus, next to Lake Yosemite north of town. Its 2020 Project, a $1.14 billion plan approved in 2015 to double the campus's capacity, finished its buildings in early 2021. Mercy Medical Center's new hospital on North G Street opened in May 2010. Campus and hospital renovations need measured above-ceiling and mechanical space before design. Merced County ranks among California's top farm counties, so processing plants, packing sheds, and cold storage buildings make up much of the industrial stock. Before equipment or racking changes, those buildings need clear heights, column grids, and slab deviation and levelness maps. Near Atwater, the former Castle Air Force Base closed in 1995 and is now Castle Airport and Castle Commerce Center, with base-era buildings in new use. Merced is also the planned northern end of the high-speed rail initial segment to Bakersfield.

We are based in Lotus in El Dorado County, so Merced is a real drive. We travel for scanning here and plan each field day as a full mobilization: control, scanning, and check shots in one trip, with several buildings grouped when we can. Primary control is GNSS, secondary control is carried with a Trimble S3, and every Trimble X9 setup is tied to it. Processing is in Trimble Business Center, in US survey feet, with control held to 0.01 US survey feet relative to project control. 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 the control basis, units, and accuracy achieved. See 3D laser scanning, construction verification, as-built surveys, and scanning in Fresno.

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

1

Project Planning

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

2

Field Scanning

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

3

Data Processing

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

4

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 Merced: FAQ

Yes. We do not treat Merced as local, so we plan the job as a mobilization: we confirm access and coverage ahead of time, then set control, scan, and take check shots in one trip. Because the cloud is registered to survey control, follow-up questions can usually be answered from the data, and any return visit lands in the same coordinate frame.
Usually, yes. We work around production schedules, shift changes, and the areas the plant releases, and the scanner does not touch equipment or product. We capture clear heights, columns, overhead structure, and piping, then deliver plans, sections, and slab deviation and levelness maps so the team can lay out new equipment or racking against measured conditions.
Yes. One scan of the exterior and interior gives the architect measured elevations, floor plans, and sections, including the cupolas, porticos, and settled floors that a tape survey tends to simplify. The registered point cloud comes with the drawings, so the design team can take further measurements later without another trip to Merced.

3D Scanning Across the East Bay

San FranciscoOaklandBerkeleyAlamedaEmeryvillePiedmontAlbanySan LeandroAntiochPittsburgBrentwoodSan RafaelMill ValleyNovatoPetalumaSausalitoSanta RosaNapaEl CerritoRichmondKensingtonSan PabloEl SobrantePinoleHerculesRodeoCrockettWalnut CreekOrindaMoragaLafayetteMartinezConcordPleasant HillBeniciaVallejoSacramentoRancho CordovaElk GroveRosevilleFolsomDavisAuburnEl Dorado HillsPlacervilleRocklinLincolnGrass ValleyGold CountryFairfieldVacavilleFresnoWest SacramentoWoodlandYuba CityChicoReddingNorth StateStocktonLodiTracyModestoCentral ValleySan JoseSanta ClaraSunnyvaleFremontPalo AltoSan MateoTruckeeSouth Lake TahoeLivermorePleasantonHaywardSanta CruzSalinasCentral Coast

Need 3D Scanning in Merced?

Call (510) 543-2220 or request a quote — we'll scope your Merced 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) 543-2220Get a Quote