In this article:
Before Your Scan
- Make sure you have enough battery power. We recommend having at least 50% but you shouldn’t need more than 5% to complete a scan.
- If you have an unreliable connection or you suspect you might lose connection during the scan, consider switching to offline mode before scanning. Once you switch out of offline mode and regain connectivity, you can submit your scan for processing. If you lose connection during a scan, you will have to repeat it.
- Consider putting your device on “do not disturb”. Incoming calls or alerts that pop up during the scan need to be ignored. If you navigate away from the scan to accept a call or read a message, you’ll have to restart your scan.
- Remove any external lenses or camera attachments from your device. If something is blocking your device’s camera or if you are using an external lens attachment, your scan cannot be processed successfully.
- Plan your path. Take a few minutes to walk through the property to plan the path that you will take while scanning. Try to find a logical route that doesn’t revisit areas if possible. We recommend starting with the lowest level of the property, and then working your way up.
- Open all doors that lead into rooms you intend to scan, to ensure easy access to all rooms and spaces while scanning. While scanning, you need to avoid capturing any doors opening or closing (see "During Your Scan" section below for more information).
- Turn on lights and open blinds. Try to get as much light as possible into the space; the more light you have, the better. If you are in a low-light situation or without power, we recommend using an external light source attached to your device, like a Lume cube. If you are an iOS user, your phone's flashlight may automatically switch on while scanning in a dark area.
- Don't worry about clutter, appliances, or furniture in the areas you are scanning. As long as you can walk far enough into a space to move around, our technology will be able to see through the clutter and capture an accurate scan.
During Your Scan
- Follow any on-screen guidance. Our live user guidance will notify you when you need to adjust your scanning technique, such as adjusting your device’s position or tilt.
- Hold your device at chest height, and tilt it slightly downwards. You are aiming to capture where the floor meets the wall.
- Hold your device steady with both hands and point it forward in the direction you are walking. Avoid covering the camera lens on your device while capturing.
- Walk forwards (not sideways), and at a normal pace. Avoid rapid movement, and avoid turning quickly.
- Do NOT capture any doors opening during your scan. Doing so will greatly disrupt the scan. If you missed opening a door before your scan was started, you can simply point the camera away from the door while you open it. Then point the camera back at the room/space once the door has been opened.
- Avoid getting too close to walls. No need to get within inches of each wall. Our optimal range for data collection is between 5 and 11 feet away from walls and/or furniture.
- You can capture multiple floors in one continuous scan. Be sure to scan one floor completely before moving to the next. Do not go back and forth between floors during the scan. When you get to the bottom of a staircase, point the device up the stairs and walk up them at a normal pace. Please be careful and watch where you are stepping. It’s good to look at the stairs instead of your device, to avoid tripping.
- You can capture multiple floors in one continuous scan. Be sure to scan one floor completely before moving to the next. Do not go back and forth between floors during the scan. When you get to the bottom of a staircase, point the device up the stairs and walk up them at a normal pace. Please be careful and watch where you are stepping. It’s good to look at the stairs instead of your device, to avoid tripping.
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Pan upwards to capture the ceiling height*. Stand still and pan up to the ceiling at a slight upwards angle, so that the ceiling and other context is visible in the frame. Make sure you are stationary when you do this. Do not scan directly under the ceiling you are capturing. Do not scan the ceiling for longer than 5 seconds.
*Note that ceiling height is not currently available with Encircle Floor Plan. It will become available in the near future. - Pan upwards to capture fixed furniture and windows. If you want icons for fixed furniture and windows to be shown for visual reference on your floor plan, you can stop, pan up to show the fixed furniture or the bottom of the window, then pan back down before you continue walking. Make sure you are stationary when you do this.
- Add special room labels when needed. Our technology automatically identifies and labels rooms for you. But if you have a special label you want to use for a room, tap the green microphone button during your capture of that room, say the room name out loud, and select the label from the options that appear.
- Be sure that you have captured all desired areas of the property before you end your scan. You cannot add to or restart a scan once it has been completed. Note that scans must be a minimum of 15 seconds long.
After Your Scan
- Review your scan. You’ll land on a review page within the Encircle app where you can review your scan and determine if it is ready to be submitted. If the timeline bar at the bottom shows red, it means there was a warning issued while scanning. If the timeline has more than 30% (or about one third) red, we recommend that you redo the scan.
- Submit your scan. Once your scan is ready to be processed, hit the ‘Save’ button. You will then be redirected to a screen that shows your scan is processing. You will receive an email notification when your scan has finished processing. Note that if you captured your scan in offline mode, you will need to regain connection before your scan begins to process.
Example Floor Plan
Watch a floor plan being created from the scanner's point of view:
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