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A comment on Why are there no startups in the real estate construction sector?. Parent comment

Re:Why are there no startups in the real estate construction... by acomjean on Friday July 07, 2023 @12:12PM (#36633914)
I was thinking about the automation when doing earthwork when I was in the field 20+ years ago. They tried some things. Like set up a laser to spin shoot across the site and the dozer blade had a reader that would tell the operator to go up or down. That apparently only works if the laser level was setup up correctly they learned.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laser_level

A quick google search of "laser grading" shows its still a thing attaching to heavy equipment.

https://www.starequip.com/construction-equipment-dealership-... https://www.burchlandmfg.com/products/lgx-laser-grader/

Construction Companies are pretty competitive and always looking for an advantage. They have some interesting ideas. (Using radiation to measure soil compaction was my favorite).

https://www.virginiadot.org/VDOT/Business/asset_upload_file7... [pdf]

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Re:Why are there no startups in the real estate construction... by zupzupper on Friday July 07, 2023 @12:58PM (#36634689)
Laser leveling is very much a thing, I can't speak to grading for construction, but I have several family friends who use it extensively for agricultural fields in California.
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Re:Why are there no startups in the real estate construction... by bluGill on Friday July 07, 2023 @02:13PM (#36635959)
These days it is done via GPS not laser. With expensive GPS units (RTK is the term to google) you can get to within a couple cm and that is good enough.
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