Munich Airport

As-built CAFM Measurement and Documentation at Munich Airport.

By bwauters

|
02/26/2019

“Anyone who has ever taken a measurement with a Leica DISTO™ measuring device will never want to  use any other”.

Thomas Adlberger, Company Management

The Challenge

With the opening of the second terminal at Munich airport in June 2003, the airport authority paved the way for dealing with approximately 25 million or so additional passengers per year. The authority also faced the challenge to verify and document the terminal as-built to prepare for the ongoing facility maintenance, repair and operation. The authority’s goal was optimization of space and maintenance costs, as well increased efficiency of the facility’s assets.

This was no small task. The 3200 feet long (980m) Terminal 2 building, with a gross building area of 65 acres (260,000 m²), contains more than 6300 rooms distributed over 10 levels, has 24 jetways, 124 check-in counters and 114 gates. Munich Airport

That's a total surface area of more than 200 acres (830,000 m²), all of which was documented and recorded using a handheld laser distance meter. More than 32 acres (132,000 m²) consisted of glazed areas in the form of windows, glass panels and glass doors. In addition to the building itself, equipment such as display panels, billboards and advertising areas, blinds etc., were also documented. Last but not least, the structural engineering data for the CAD documentation was also measured and corrected (if necessary).

The Solution

It’s bad enough sleeping on terminal chairs, it’s worse trying to measure in and around them using a tape.

Sleeping in Airport Bench

The advantage of using DISTOs became apparent early on in the project. With accuracy to fractions of an inch and ranges of 660 ft, DISTOs gave Thomas Alberger and his team at IT Plan the ability to navigate the maze of airport food stands and luggage trollies with relative ease.

Back in 2003, IT Plan employees used the A5, a 6th generation DISTO that introduced technology like the multi-function endpiece with auto-correction that automatically told the DISTO which end it was measuring from. The A5 also had power range technology for increased accuracy, an Integrated optical Viewfinder, and could calculate Area and Volume with the push of a button.

This proved to be extremely useful in Munich’s T2; the terminal contains many areas such as high concourses that are difficult to access. With conventional measuring tools (tape measure or folding ruler) a work platform would have been needed, making the process extremely time-consuming and cost-intensive. Since many measurements can be made from the ground, the risk of accidents was also reduced.

Munich Measure

The measured data was transfered into the facility model and floorplan (areas, usage, occupancy, rotation etc.) and used for creating new and updated cleaning and maintenance schedules and tenders for cleaning contracts and maintenance plans. The information was also used for calculating, planning, monitoring and controlling cleaning costs and viewing  the cleaning areas on a Computer Aided Facilities Management (CAFM) system. 

(The current generation of DISTOs are Bluetooth enabled and work with tablet software. Shoot a measurement  and send your dimensions into your tablet software to start building your floor plan instantly.)

The Result
Due to the precise measurement of the terminal the client (Flughafen München GmbH) saved millions.

Borrowed from the original publication, “Leica Geosystems TruStory, Site Measuring, IT Plan Adleberger”,  2010

Leica Geosystems AG
Heinrich-Wild-Strasse 
CH-9435 Heerbrugg 
Switzerland 
Phone +41 71 727 31 31 
www.leica-geosystems.com