Is it possible to merge two mobile scanning passes (trolley with IMU) with scale adjustment in CloudCompare?
Posted: Mon Nov 10, 2025 4:09 pm
Hello everyone,
I have two separate mobile scans collected with an Amberg trolley equipped with IMU and ZF 9012.
Each run was processed independently, and now I would like to merge both point clouds into a single cloud.
The scans align best at the fixpoints, but in the sections between the fixpoints, there is a visible drift and mismatch between the clouds — typical for IMU-based systems.
Therefore I would need a scale or stretching option along the trajectory to compensate for the IMU drift.
I know that Cyclone only supports best-fit (rigid) transformations, without any scaling.
My question is:
Is there any way in CloudCompare to perform a cloud-to-cloud alignment that includes scaling (similar to a 7-parameter Helmert transform)?
Any advice or experience with similar Amberg or mobile datasets would be greatly appreciated!
I have two separate mobile scans collected with an Amberg trolley equipped with IMU and ZF 9012.
Each run was processed independently, and now I would like to merge both point clouds into a single cloud.
The scans align best at the fixpoints, but in the sections between the fixpoints, there is a visible drift and mismatch between the clouds — typical for IMU-based systems.
Therefore I would need a scale or stretching option along the trajectory to compensate for the IMU drift.
I know that Cyclone only supports best-fit (rigid) transformations, without any scaling.
My question is:
Is there any way in CloudCompare to perform a cloud-to-cloud alignment that includes scaling (similar to a 7-parameter Helmert transform)?
Any advice or experience with similar Amberg or mobile datasets would be greatly appreciated!