My name is Albert Dubler. I come from Strasbourg. I have been an architect for about fifty years.

After experimenting with a lot of jobs, I started studying architecture. I started working for a boss in an interior design agency. Then, in 1987, I set up my own business.

I do rehabilitations, which means that I modify an existing building. So I need to have accurate measurements of the buildings.

To do this, I tested the full spectrum of ways to take measurements. I started with strings, a square, tees and stakes. I was one of the first to use architectural software. And recently I bought the iMapper.

I have worked all over the world, including being President of the International Union of Architects from 2011 to 2014.

Your daily challenges?

My daily challenge is non-specialisation. I have done enough of what no one else can do. I have been involved in all kinds of projects for 60 years.

I started to do rehabilitation of existing buildings in urban areas. I do wooden constructions, garages, restaurant renovations...

Why iMapper?

I saw an advert and fell for it straight away. I was very easy to convince!

I have always loved technology. I got a computer in 1985. Now I work with the latest version of my architecture software. And that's why I bought this instrument.

The other comparable solutions are much more expensive than iMapper. They are also very complex tools.

What was it like surveying before iMapper?

I remember a survey from 1976. At that time I was working for a civil engineering company. One of the projects was the rehabilitation of four buildings in a village with two-metre differences in level, in a bend.

I went to do the survey with a collegue. We spent more than four days, from 6 a.m. to midnight. It was very long.

Then it took the same amount of time to redraw the plans by hand, on tracing paper.

With the iMapper, it would now take me a day to do the survey alone.

What is it like now?

The situation has changed a lot. Life is easier. I get there, set up my iMapper, let it run for as long as it takes. Then I go to the platform and merge the points.

My job is to transform a place. To do this, you need to know as much as possible. When you work on an existing building, the walls are not necessarily straight and vertical. The iMapper is not a professional 3D scanner. However, it gives me a precise image of what I am going to transform.

I have a precise geometry of the place. And that's what's important to me.

Now that I have the iMapper, I only have to go to the site once to take the measurements. I am sure of the measurements and the point clouds.

What would you say to companies to convince them to use iMapper?

I take the measurements of the building myself. I want to know the space I am working in.

It is accurate. The iMapper is easy to use, even for people like me who are harder to train than young people. Installing the iMapper is simple and easy.

What are the financial benefits?

Its price is more than affordable. When you calculate the time spent measuring by hand, re-drawing, correcting mistakes with our hourly rate, the iMapper is very cost effective.

And I amortized it in a survey. It's hard to imagine anything better.

When I was surveying with a laser rangefinder and a sketchbook, I was always making mistakes. I came back on site several times because of oversights and/or mistakes. Sometimes three or four times.

In short?

iMapper is accurate, easy to use, inexpensive.

How? You don't have an iMapper? But that's not possible

It is a company that I recommend because of its seriousness and its after-sales service. I am really satisfied.