46. Why Matterport will Build and Sell a Leica B-L-K three-sixty Clone for Less Than $7,500

Why Matterport will Build/Sell a Leica BLK360 Clone for Less Than $7,500

Commentary and Analysis by

Dan Smigrod
Founder and Managing Editor
We Get Around Network Forum
WGAN-TV Live at 5
WGAN-TV Training U (in Matterport)

Every Matterport media release begins with the statement: “Matterport, Inc. … the leading spatial data company driving the digital transformation of the built world.”

Yet, the Matterport vision is hard to live up to when its flagship capture solution, the Matterport Pro2 3D Camera, falls short delivering on the Matterport spatial data promise.

For example, the Matterport Pro2 3D Camera infrared technology can not create:

1. spatial data of outdoor exterior building fascias
2. spatial data of high ceilings more than a couple stories tall
3. spatial data with the Level of Detail (LOD) needed for many commercial real estate spaces and AEC use cases

And, while the Leica BLK360 LiDAR scanner, paired with the Matterport Capture app, does all of the above, its $18,000 price point is simply too high (and capturing spatial data too slow) to create a nationwide network - let alone a worldwide network – of Matterport Service Providers with the necessary gear required for scanning much of the built world. That’s a big-big-big problem for Matterport.

Given Matterport’s ambitious plans for its Matterport Capture Services™ On-Demand program - now in 152 cities among seven countries - I could imagine Matterport is missing a massive number of opportunities because its network of “trained and certified Capture Technicians” can not afford an essential tool for capturing spatial data of large commercial spaces (including building exterior fascias) with high ceiling with the LOD required, for example, for:

1. As-Builts (the first step in documenting the life-cycle of a to-be-renovated commercial space)
2. construction documentation (to compare to a BIM model)
3. critical measurements

In addition to Matterport Capture Services On-Demand, I could imagine companies such as IFTI/PROvision Solutions which offers Matterport scanning at scale across the United States for as-builts; construction progress documentation; and facilities management; Snappr for Enterprise and other companies that provide Matterport On-Demand services, have the same challenge of sourcing a Network of Matterport Service Providers that own – or are willing to rent – a Leica BLK360 LiDAR scanner.

For example, in the last few months, I noticed a pain point/opportunity for IFTI/PROvision Solutions: a significant uptick in IFTI/PROvision Solutions Help Wanted posts in the We Get Around Network Forum specifically for Matterport Service Providers that use a Leica BLK360 for scanning large commercial spaces.

(Commentary and Analysis by We Get Around Network Forum Founder and Managing Editor Dan Smigrod continues in the We Get Around Network Forum (www.WGANForum.com)

https://forum.we-get-around.com/topic/16349/page/1/why-matterport-will-buildsell-a-leica-blk360-clone-for-less-than-7500/