Equipped with a Laser Distance Meter I am trying to calculate the total area of roofs (flat surfaces, not necessarily rectangular), and I am wondering how much data I need to collect in order to do this.
To make the data collection as simple as possible, the requirements are:
- Only three corners of the roof need to be visible from the location where the measurements are made.
- Each measurement gives a distance to the point that is targeted, as well as the vertical angle. Optionally a horizontal angle can be measured as well, but a method not requiring this angle would be preferred.
This should then result in being able to create a 2D Coordinate System with the roof, and being able to plot in coordinates from additional measurements.
So bottom line:
- How many measurements are needed as a bare minimum?
- Is measuring the angle on the horizontal axis needed?