GIT partnered with Metalforming Inc., Peachtree City, Ga., to develop the tool. Metalforming is a sheet metal folding company that is testing use of the video-derived roof measurements to drive on-site roofing panel fabrication machines.
The device comprises twin high-definition video cameras on an extendable pole. It is used to capture images in stereo, and then send the video images to a server that registers visual features from the left and right views. It matches the features over multiple frames, allowing extraction of 3D information and the generation of wireframe roof diagrams, which define the dimensions of the planes and angles from as-built conditions.