NEWS, CASE STUDY
High-speed 3D Capture of Elland Road Stadium with the RIEGL VZ-600i
How Survey Hub achieved fast, precise scanning at one of the busiest venues in Leeds, England
With this case study, Dave Foster, Managing Director of RIEGL UK, and Lee Stevenson, Director at Survey Hub, report on the recently completed survey of Elland Road Stadium in Leeds, England, where the RIEGL VZ-600i terrestrial laser scanner once again demonstrated its outstanding capabilities and efficient workflow.
Overview
- Client: Survey Hub / Leeds United Football Club
- Service: Building Surveying
- Product: RIEGL VZ-600i
- Location: Leeds, England
Leeds United Football Club commissioned a large-scale survey of Elland Road Stadium, covering both the interior and exterior of all stands.
Survey Hub - a full-service provider of property, land and compliance surveys – secured the project and undertook on the work.
The team faced tight access windows and needed to capture data with the precision required to support a full 3D Revit model. To meet these demands, they relied heavily on the RIEGL VZ-600i, combining its high-speed data capture with established topographic control for dependable accuracy.
The Challenge
Elland Road is a large, operational venue with complex structures and only short access windows for key areas.
The project required the team to:
- capture interior and exterior spaces across multiple stands
- work efficiently around live events and daily stadium operations
- deliver data with the precision needed for measured building information models
- integrate terrestrial scans with NavVis walkthroughs and drone-based point clouds
- minimize disruption while completing thousands of individual scan positions
With more than 5,000 scan setups required, reliability and overall efficiency were just as critical as single-point accuracy.
Why the RIEGL VZ-600i
After evaluating several solutions, the team selected the RIEGL VZ-600i for its combination of speed, accuracy, and efficiency across a large, operational site.
The system delivered three key advantages:
- Speed across large spaces: the RIEGL VZ-600i enables rapid coverage without losing momentum on site, approximately 5 seconds for low-resolution overview scans and roughly 30 seconds to achieve 6 mm resolution at 10 m. This speed allowed the team to maximize short access windows.
- High-precision measurement: with 3D position accuracy up to 3 mm at 50 m, and a working range from 0.5 m to 1000 m, the system provided the flexibility needed for both tight interior spaces and long external sightlines.
- Interoperability and efficient data handling: data transfer speeds of up to 500 MB/sec supports fast offloading and processing. The platform is also built for integration with other capture methods, including mobile mapping workflows and user-specific Python applications.
Project Approach
Survey Hub followed a structured workflow to keep data capture efficient and ensure consistent results across the entire stadium.
The team began with a strong control framework, used high-efficiency terrestrial scanning for the majority of the site, and supplemented coverage with mobile and aerial methods where they added value.
- Establishing control: a robust control network was set during the topographic survey phase, providing a stable framework to anchor all subsequent laser scan data.
- Fast capture on site: The RIEGL VZ-600i allowed the team to move quickly through stands and restricted-access areas, maximizing coverage with minimal disruption.
- Integrated dataset delivery: RIEGL terrestrial scan data was combined with NavVis VLX walkthrough data and drone-derived point clouds, producing a richer, more versatile dataset for future modelling and analysis.
- Processing and registration: All 5,250 scan positions were registered and refined in RiSCAN PRO, supported by responsive guidance from RIEGL whenever processing or integration questions arose.
Results
Survey Hub delivered a fully registered scan dataset for Elland Road Stadium, capturing all stands both internally and externally.
A total of 5,250 scan positions were completed, with all laser scanning tied into the same control loop and site network established during the topographic phase. This ensured consistent, high-accuracy results across the entire project footprint. The outcome was a fully captured stadium dataset and a high-quality 3D Revit model, created by Survey Hub’s in-house technicians and issued to support future redevelopment activities.
The final dataset now provides the client with a reliable, measurable baseline to support planning, design, and future Elland Road Stadium expansion.
Working around a busy football club’s schedule we needed an accurate and efficient solution to obtaining the internals and externals of all stands at LUFC. If we came across a problem on site or in the office, we were quickly assisted by RIEGL’s staff to solve. We also integrated the RIEGL data we collected with external walkthrough capture from Survey Hub’s NavVis VLX system and drone cloud data which the RIEGL staff were more than happy to assist with. We have been really impressed with the RIEGL kit and processing software we purchased alongside the level of support we received throughout the project.
Final Thoughts
For large, operational venues where access windows are limited, the RIEGL VZ-600i proves its value by making complex data capture projects not only achievable but highly feasible.
In this case, the scanner delivered rapid data acquisition, consistent precision, and seamless integration with NavVis and drone datasets. This combination enabled the Survey Hub team to produce a professional, model-ready output for one of the UK’s major football grounds.
Take a closer look at the RIEGL VZ-600i scanner here.
The drafts for the redevelopment of Elland Road Stadium can be seen here.
About Survey Hub
Survey Hub is a UK-based surveying and engineering firm and specializes in Measured Building & Topographical Surveys, Commercial EPCs & MEES advice, Asbestos Surveys, Utilities & CCTV Drainage Surveys, 3D Revit models and the provision of all types of reports & plans for both public and private sector clients. A team of highly qualified surveyors, who are all experts in their field, are ready to deliver high quality reliable surveys, on budget and on time, throughout the UK from their offices in Nottingham, Manchester and London. Special emphasis is placed on high quality and safety standards, as well as on supporting and training young surveying professionals.
