Key takeaways
- The Question: How do you choose reality capture software for construction, and how do you tell a good platform from a convincing demo?
- The Answer: Judge the software on the four jobs it must do with your data: process every capture type you use, let anyone find a place on a date, compare the record with the plan, and pass results to your other tools. Then test it on your own site with the people who will actually use it.
- The YelloSKYE Angle: Construct IQ and the DEX platform bring drone, 360°, fixed-camera and laser scan data into one dated record, aligned with CAD and BIM, with capture handled by our pilots or your site team.
Reality capture software is the platform that turns site images, video and scans into a record your team can open, measure and compare against the plan. Choosing one well means looking past the viewer and asking how it handles each type of capture you will feed it, how it lines that data up with your drawings and schedule, and where the results go next. At YelloSKYE, this is the job of the DEX platform behind Construct IQ, so we see the questions buyers ask from both sides.
This guide does not rank products. It sets out what the software has to do, the differences that matter in practice, and a test you can run before signing. If you are still deciding which capture methods to use at all, start with our overview of reality capture in construction.
What the software actually has to do
Every platform can show a pretty 3D model. The differences appear in the less visible work: getting raw data in, keeping it organised, comparing it with something meaningful and sending the result to the people who act on it.
| Layer | What it does | What to check |
|---|---|---|
| Ingest and processing | Turns raw photos, video and scans into maps, walkthroughs and point clouds | Which capture types and devices it accepts, and how long processing takes |
| Organisation | Places every capture on the right site, level, location and date | Whether a new user can find a room on a given day without help |
| Viewing and measuring | Lets users navigate, measure and annotate | Measurement tools that report their accuracy, not just a number |
| Comparison | Compares the record with earlier dates, the schedule, drawings or BIM | Whether differences are flagged or must be spotted by eye |
| Integration and export | Sends data and results to other systems | Open formats and working links to the tools you already use |
| Governance | Controls who sees what, and who owns the data | Role-based access, audit trail, export on exit |
A product strong in one layer and weak in another can still be the right choice, as long as the weak layer is not the one your team depends on.
Processing: one platform, several kinds of data
Construction projects rarely use a single capture method for long. Earthworks start with drones, interiors need 360° walks, critical zones get fixed cameras, and tight tolerances call for laser scanning. Ask how the software treats each.
Drone imagery
The software should produce orthomosaics, surface models and 3D meshes, and report how accurately they are positioned. Our drone mapping software guide covers this layer in detail, including ground control and volume settings.
360° walkthroughs
Interior capture is only useful if each frame lands in the right place on the floor plan. Ask how the platform locates frames: from the capture path, from markers, or by matching to earlier walks. Check how it copes with a floor that has changed since the last walk, which is exactly when location goes wrong.
Laser scans
Point clouds are large and come in several formats. Check that the platform can accept and export the formats your surveyors and designers use, keeps the project coordinate system and lets users take sections and measurements without desktop software.
Fixed cameras
Fixed-camera images arrive constantly. The platform should hold them on the same timeline as everything else, so a user looking at last Tuesday's drone map can also see what the camera on the core recorded that afternoon.
Turnaround
Ask how long each type takes from upload to usable output, and whether that changes with project size. A weekly progress meeting needs the capture processed before the meeting, not after.
Organisation and viewing: can anyone find anything?
The most common reason a platform falls out of use is not missing features. It is that a site manager cannot find the image they need in under a minute.
Good organisation means every capture is tied to a project, a level or zone, a position and a date, without someone tagging it by hand. Test the basic tasks with non-specialists:
- Open the east stair on level three as it was on a date two months ago.
- Compare that view side by side with today.
- Measure an opening and add a note for the subcontractor.
- Share the view with someone who does not have an account.
If these tasks need training, expect low adoption on site.
Comparison: where the value is
Viewing a site remotely saves travel. Comparing it with the plan is what changes decisions. There are four useful comparisons, and platforms differ in which they support and how much they automate.
Date against date
The simplest and most used comparison: what changed between two captures. A time slider across every capture type is the minimum.
Record against schedule
Linking captures to schedule activities lets the team see progress against the programme by zone. Ask whether the platform reads your scheduling tool's files directly, and whether progress is detected automatically or recorded by a person.
Record against drawings and design surfaces
For earthworks and site works, the useful output is cut and fill against the design levels. Our earthwork volumetric analytics use case shows drone surveys checked against the grading plan, with survey turnaround cut from two weeks to a few hours.
Record against BIM
Aligning scans or photogrammetry with the model lets the software flag elements that are missing, misplaced or out of tolerance. This is the most demanding comparison, and its quality depends on registration and agreed tolerances as much as on software. Our guide to reality capture and BIM explains the setup, and our as-built vs BIM clash detection use case shows laser scans compared with the model before downstream trades arrive.
Integrations and data exchange
Reality capture data is most useful when it reaches the systems where decisions are recorded: document control, issue tracking, scheduling and cost. Ask three questions about every integration a vendor lists:
- What moves, and in which direction? A link that only embeds a viewer is different from one that writes issues or progress into the other system.
- Is it maintained? Ask when it was last updated and who supports it.
- What happens without it? Open export formats for images, point clouds and models are your fallback if an integration breaks or you change tools.
As a reference point, DEX exports point clouds as RCP, LAS or LAZ files, and connects to Procore, Autodesk Construction Cloud, BIM 360 and MS Project using APIs or common file formats.
Software only, or software with capture
Software is only as good as the data fed into it. Before comparing licences, decide who will do the capturing, processing checks and reviewing each week.
| Model | Suits | Risk to manage |
|---|---|---|
| Software, your team captures | Contractors with trained staff and repeat projects | Capture slips when the site gets busy |
| Software plus capture service | Owners and teams without in-house pilots or scanners | Dependence on the provider's schedule |
| Mixed | Your team walks interiors; a provider flies drones and scans | Two sources must land in one record |
On YelloSKYE projects, capture is done by our certified pilots or the client's site team using drones, 360° cameras or laser scanners. DEX aligns the visuals with CAD and BIM, flags deviations, calculates volumes and updates the progress dashboard. On one multi-acre development, weekly aerial capture gave each site manager back over 15 hours of reporting time every week, as described in our aerial progress capture use case.
Pricing models and what drives cost
Vendors price in different units, and the unit you choose decides how cost grows with your business.
- Per user: predictable for small teams, expensive when you want owners and subcontractors to look.
- Per project or site: easy to recover in project budgets, but watch the definition of a project.
- Per area or capture: fits occasional work, harder to forecast on long projects.
- Enterprise licence: suits large portfolios once usage is established.
Ask for a quote based on a realistic year: the number of sites, captures per month and people who need access. Include hardware, training, storage of historical data and any charges for exports or integrations.
Red flags in a demo
- The demo only uses the vendor's sample project. Ask to see one of your own captures processed.
- Accuracy is quoted as a single figure without saying how it was checked.
- Location of interior frames is corrected by hand behind the scenes.
- Exports require a support ticket or come without coordinates.
- The vendor cannot say what happens to your data when the subscription ends.
- Every comparison is visual, with no measured or flagged differences.
How to test before you buy
A short structured trial will tell you more than any feature list. Build it around decisions, not features.
- Pick three real questions your team asked in the last month, for example whether a riser was complete before boarding, how much fill was placed, and how the facade has progressed since the last owner meeting.
- Capture one live site with each method you plan to use, on a normal working week.
- Ask a site manager, a commercial lead and an owner's representative to answer the three questions in each platform, and time them.
- Export one dataset into your scheduling, document or BIM tool and check it lands in the right place.
- Repeat the capture a week later and test the date-against-date comparison.
- Ask for the full cost of running that site for a year.
Checklist: choosing reality capture software
- Capture types you will use this year listed, with who captures each.
- Processing time confirmed for each type, on a project of your size.
- Interior frame location tested on a floor that changed between walks.
- Basic tasks completed by non-specialists without training.
- Comparison against schedule, drawings or BIM demonstrated on your data.
- Integrations checked for direction, maintenance and fallback exports.
- Data ownership, retention and exit terms confirmed in writing.
- A year's cost calculated on realistic usage, including storage and access for external parties.
