A new solution for construction layout, interior finishing, MEP, and templating, incorporates so many clever innovations that it is almost like a whole new class of instrument.
Tools and solutions for construction layout, stakeout, interior finishing, and templating have evolved substantially since the days of legacy analog, pencil, tape, and paper plans. Presently, there is a wide variety of laser gizmos and gadgets and total station-based solutions. However, these tools, designed to help speed up construction, have not been universally adopted by construction and trades professionals. Solutions were not encompassing end-to-end workflows, might involve substantial investment, or have steep learning curves.
Certainly, to address these challenges, some modifications to total stations, such as integrating AI into companion software, could be considered, but this approach has essentially been plateaued. There have been a few outstanding developments for layout, such as tilt-compensated prism poles (e.g., Leica AP20). But to advance any further, a whole new class of instruments, with companion software, was needed.
I do not use the term “new class of instrument” lightly. I hear the term “next generation”, but Leica iCON trades seem so different from anything currently out there, is it a next generation of “what”? Calling it a new class seems more appropriate. If you look back, there have been several periods where new classes of instruments appeared: first commercial electronic distance measurement (EDM) in the 1950s, the first total stations (with integrated EDM) in the late 1960s, GPS receivers (1970s), digital levels (1990), RTK Rovers (1990s), robotic total stations (1991), scanning total stations and Multistations (2010s), no-calibration tilt compensation for GNSS rovers (2017), then tilt compensation for prism poles (2022). Not to mention the advent of laser scanners, small drones for mapping, and the rapidly growing array of reality capture (RC) systems.
The instruments of the Leica iCON trades solution might “sort of” resemble a total station, but that is where the similarity ends. The deeper you look into how this thing works, the more this becomes apparent. And about the name. “iCON trades” is the term that encompasses both the hardware and software. The hardware options include the Leica iCON iCS20 and iCS50 (but more on those later), and the software is also called “iCON trades”. The lowercase “trades” confuses spellcheck and autocorrect, so I’ll use italics…
The inspiration came from outside of traditional surveying and geomatics instrumentation. Imaging is leveraged for target recognition, orientation, and aiming. A magnetic drive is used for speed, global gravity models aid in leveling compensation, there are automated setup routines and even pole height automation.
Some aspects of the iCON trades solution might seem a bit odd at first glance. That big, spotty ball for one. Before we do a deep dive into the tech-specific and workflow automation, a little background should help explain the how and why of the solution design and operation. And that very clever, big spotted ball.
Backstory
I spoke with Agata Fischer, president of building field solutions at Hexagon’s Geosystems division at Hexagon LIVE Global 2025, where I also got to try out the solution. Fischer was among the honorees for xyHt Magazine’s Outstanding Young Professionals in 2020. “This is a division that looks after the portfolio for trade contractors, tools, and software,” said Fischer. “From laser distance meters through line lasers, rotating lasers, pipe lasers, up to iCON trades, and iCON portfolio for vertical construction.”
Solutions like the AP20 bring tilt compensation, especially effective for speeding up layout, to construction contractors and surveyors doing stakeouts. “We wanted to bring such enhancements for trade contractors, and especially the ones who are transitioning from traditional methods,” said Fischer. “Perhaps they have looked at total stations, and maybe it’s too much for them, or they are concerned that they will not put it to use effectively. The whole point of developing a new solution was simplicity. How to make it really simple and automate it as much as possible.”
“The goal was to take away some manual steps that might be error-prone for layout professionals, like precise leveling,” said Fischer “You don’t have to level the system, it levels itself. There’s automated positioning, tilt compensation, and navigating to points in a more straightforward way. Depending on how you were trained, the old ways of navigating might come to you naturally. But for a new user, maybe it’s not so intuitive going backwards or facing the sensor”. Stakeout navigation in this new system is more akin to how you use a navigation app on your phone; but more on this later.
“The original idea started several years ago, and was inspired by the manufacturing intelligence group of Hexagon,” said Fischer. “Precision measurement, or metrology, for industrial applications and manufacturing, essentially the principles of the six degrees of freedom of our metrology solutions. We wanted to bring this to construction.”
The metrology solutions Fischer is referring to include Hexagon Tracker systems. These consist of a total station “tracker”—an extremely precise total station—and portable handheld probes. The handheld devices have multiple targets built-in, so the tracker station follows them in real-time, and knows the orientation, freeing the user to hold the probe in any way that helps measure the subject objects. For example, in a manufacturing facility where complex or large components need to be measured to ensure fidelity to the design and after assembly, such as car panels, aircraft wings, nacelles, etc. High-profile users include F1 racing teams. Such systems can be quite pricey, but well worth the high precision they need to deliver tens to hundreds of microns (1 micron (1μ) = 1/1000 mm] or 1 micron (micrometer) = 1/1,000,000 of a metre).
A solution for construction and the building trades did not need such precision but could benefit from the six degrees of freedom from the handheld probe concept. The Leica AP20 tilt prism is, in some ways, doing this very thing. However, while it is very effective for construction staking, layout, and general surveying tasks, it requires a full total station (e.g., Leica TS16, TS60, MS60 Multistation, iCR70, and iCR80). To make something light, fast, easy to use, precise for the trades, and with a new level of automation would require going completely off the geomatics instruments playbook.
Accuracies
The first question, when looking at a new instrument, is usually about accuracy. In short, the iCON iCS20 is a 5-arc-second instrument, and the iCON iCS50 is a 3-arc-second instrument, but there are a few other differences. When working up close using the vPen, say within 10m, there is little difference. With the iCON iCS50 at 10m, you should expect 1mm (about 1/32 of an inch), and with the iCON iCS20, that would be 1.5mm (1/16 of an inch). With the iCON iCS50, you should get a pure distance accuracy of 1.5mm up to 50m, and there is a 250m option (though I could not find out what accuracy to expect). With ranges from 0.3m to 50m, this solution is suited for many construction and trade applications.
To be honest, I’ve used solutions for surveying that did not even meet these types of results. Leica Geosystems emphasizes that this is not a surveying solution per se, but surveying is a broad discipline, with stakeout and construction support among the many types of work surveyors get tasked with.
Elements and Innovation
I spoke with Tobias Heller, team leader, product management at Leica Geosystems, part of Hexagon. Starting from the ground up:
• Tripods. Stability is essential, so a purpose-built tripod was designed for indoor applications, with a quick release. There is an adapter to put the iCON iCS20/50 on a standard heavy wooden tripod, better suited for outdoor work.
• The Base. “We have the base part, with the lithium-ion battery,” said Heller. “The Atlas – the vertical part that the telescope unit is attached to – includes the compensator and drive.” It does not have the dual vertical parts of transits, theodolites, and total stations.
• Cameras. The telescope unit has a fisheye camera for panoramas and two cameras for tracking and precise aiming. There is no eyepiece. Squinting through an eyepiece to aim is time-consuming, plus a bit moot, as much of the tracking and aiming is automated. The camera for panorama images is on top of the telescope unit, it flips forward to take 4 photos for 360 panoramas when requested.
• Horizontal Drive. The drive is not mechanical; that would be too slow and subject to wear. In a departure from the piezo drives of some Leica Geosystems total stations, the iCS50 has a magnetic drive that is more affordable, compact and has low power consumption. It can spin at 180° per second. “A mag drive gives us the speed that the users need, but one drawback is the sensitivity,” said Heller. “There may be vibrations on a construction site. Therefore, we urge the use of the specially designed tripod or a full wooden tripod for stability.” You would not want to use an aluminium tripod.
• Leveling. “Many customers told us that setting up an instrument is a major point of pain,” said Heller. “This starts with screwing the instrument onto the tripod, so we have a quick mount adapter. Everything fits into a small case, including a tablet. It self-levels up to three degrees. We have a small bubble, but usually, you don’t need it. It has to be just roughly in that bubble, and then it will automatically level.” There are even guiding messages to assist in the process.
Things have progressed a long way past bubbles. “The instrument needs to plumb to local gravity,” said Heller. “The direction of the gravity vector of the Earth; depending on where you are, the gravity is different because of the land masses below you, and we need to compensate for that. Because the self-leveling of the instrument is calibrated at our headquarters in Heerbrugg, Switzerland, your locality will be different. If I go to Tucson for instance, there will be 25 arc-seconds difference. We use gravity errors in arc seconds. The GPS location from your tablet can provide a rough location, and we compensate for the corresponding values in the table.” When you set up the instrument, it does a quick set of spins self-level.
• The Ball. The aiming and distance measurement aspect of these instruments is perhaps the greatest departure from the norm, almost fiendishly clever. An acquaintance with a different instrument manufacturer said that “we were gobsmacked” by the news of this system, and they never saw it coming.
Perhaps at first, the big spotted ball on the pole (vPole), or the little spotted ball on the handheld vPen probe (vPen) might look a little silly. Try to look past that. The color and pattern of the dots are the key to computer vision (CV) recognition of the orientation of the ball, and provide a model for the infrared laser to know where it is measuring on the ball. Even if it is off-center, that is compensated for. With the orientation and diameter known, the relationship to the pole, and its tilt, yields the millimeter precision position of the pole tip.
We have underlying calibration data of each sphere, we calibrate each sphere individually,” said Heller. “When the user gets the kit, they just need to type in the serial number of the pen or sphere, and it automatically downloads the calibration data for that particular sphere. And based on that calibration data and the CV, the system knows in real-time where each one is. Based on this, we get a continuous position on the sphere as it is tracked, not a sweep.” There can be a very slight lag time, so rapid movements are not recommended. I was surprised just how little that lag time was; I never move that fast anyhow.
The spotted spheres enable quite a feat of technological precision. Why red dots? It turns out that red on white performs best for fast laser distance measurement due to better reflection compared to black. Black dots absorb light, but red gives just the right contrast. “I have to admit, it is actually quite difficult to print round dots on a sphere,” said Heller “This is not trivial.` There are only two printing machines in the world that can do specifically what we need, and one luckily is just around the corner. It’s about 50 kilometers east in Liechtenstein.”
“We use CV to detect the standard of the dots, measure the distance between the dots, and by that, we are detecting or calculating the rotation, which gives us the benefits of the six degrees of freedom,” said Heller. As it is a sphere, the accuracy is not orientation dependent (this would be the case for a prism-based solution); no matter which way you tilt the sphere, the accuracy is the same. As it turns out, there was another benefit of the orientation, more than just tilt compensation, that occurred to the team during development: as an aid to navigation (more on this later).
• Automatic Pole Height. There are sets of white strips near the top and bottom of the pole and on the extendable section of the pole. CV recognizes these and enters the pole height in the software as one of three presets: 2m (5.562’). 1.5m (4.92’), and 0.24m (0.787’) when the pole is inverted.
• Pole Calibration. Let’s be honest, we’re all guilty of perhaps not looking after our field poles. While diligent practitioners will check their poles and adjust bubbles, this is time-consuming and not always consistently performed. “We came up with a calibration routine,” said Heller. “You put the tip on a point on the floor, like a survey marker, and tilt the pole in different directions; you will see the results spread around the center.” The routine to calibrate the pole prompts you to take a series of measurements at different orientations. Even if there is a bend in the pole, the calibration model can compensate for this.
• Pointing Laser. There is also a pointing laser for layout. This is much the same as various laser layout tools and gadgets. If the layout of, say, mechanical electrical and plumbing (MEP) up on a wall or ceiling is easily performed with such laser dots, this is one of the options the users have, in addition to precision layout with the vPole or vPen.
• Lights. There is a ring of lights around the front lens. If it is too dark for the CV to recognize the sphere, you can turn on the lights but be aware that these will impact the battery level.
• Set-up and Spatial Registration. Once you’ve set up and leveled the instrument, you have many options for manual, semi-manual, and automated spatial registration. You can do a resection from prisms, or targets with known positions. You can reference, say, pencil marks or lines on a wall, like those a carpenter would set.
Automation could be a real-time saver and reduce user errors that can occur during manual registration. Small, pre-printed, individually serial numbered, CV “ArUCo” style targets, are sold by Leica as “vTargets”. There are marks to help determine the center, a thick border, and a binary pattern for easy CV detection. If you have set up several of these, say, in an indoor space, and have established coordinates for them, the instrument will do a search, first level, then high and low, and then the CV seeks the targets and performs the registration automatically.
• Software. Leica iCON trades software can run on a tablet that connects to the instrument via Wi-Fi, and there is an iCON trades Cloud Connect option.
Users can import standard delimited text files, CAD, and BIM models. You can also do measurements with the instrument, sort of limited “as-builts”, and export those in several standard formats. But the focus is the layout for construction, say, where you’d use the vPole. But there’s been great interest, and adoption for templating (interior finishing), metal carpentry (i.e., field-focused fitting and fabrication of things like metal stairs), and MEP layout where the flexibility of the handheld vPen is particularly useful. The software has functions specifically designed to guide a user through such workflows.
For example. To template countertops was labor intensive, often requiring many measurements, taping, grid paper, and pencil, and often having to scale. Errors can lead to costly rework and wasted materials. With the vPen, you do not have to try to measure sharp corners; you pick two points along each edge and corners are projected in the software. When doing measurements with the vPen, you use a small remote (RC10). There’s individual point mode, line mode, and polyline mode. You could use it with the tablet, to see the progress of the points you are collecting, but it does not take long for users to get used to using the remote alone, which is even more efficient for templating.
• Navigation. Legacy layout, even with a total station and prism pole was in contrast much less efficient (and frustrating) than with this new solution. Remember having to face the instrument at all times, having to “bubble up” the pole, and the “shoot-check-move” dance to get to the layout point?
iCON trades leans into the heuristics folks have acclimated to from decades of using consumer navigation applications, like Google Maps, where the ubiquitous blue dots are our guide. “On the center of the screen is the blue dot, indicating the user, in black is the instrument and the target point selected is in yellow,” said Heller. “You immediately know what general direction you need to move.” You can pick the closest, pick them on the screen, or by point number.
With the six degrees of freedom, the orientation and position of the ball are always known through CV. It does not matter if you are facing the instrument or not, you get an arrow on the screen pointing you to the target point. This is quite different from legacy stakeout, not to mention the inaccuracies of compass orientation sometimes utilized.
Once you are within half a meter, you get the bullseye screen,” said Heller. “And when you get even closer, it will jump to a 30 cm bullseye, where you can do your last small movements. You can preset some limits for the circles guiding your final movements, say 3 cm or an inch.” Something I particularly liked about the AP20 for stakeout is that you can simply move the pole tip around for those final measurements, rather than the old “shoot-check-move” dance. You can do the same with the vPole and vPen. The software also guides the user through other common layout approaches, such as direction and offset, height transfer, and plumbing a point.
iCS20 and iCS50 Differences
Apart from the difference in arc-seconds (5, in contrast with 3 for the iCON iCS50), and different accuracies, the iCON iCS20 is a laser measurement solution, and the iCS50 is a robotic solution, which works with the pen and the pole. “The user has the option of upgrading to the pen or the pole in the future, we allow that by purchasing a license,” said Heller. In some ways, the iCS20 is like the Leica 3D Disto that was introduced years ago; it was like a mini-total station with a layout laser. The iCS20 can operate in this manner but has many other advantages (mag drive, auto-target recognition and registration, etc.).
CV, AI, and Looking Ahead
I had way too much fun trying out this solution. Many “woah, that’s clever” revelations. Some aspects of this solution are far too clever to be limited to one solution. I would expect to see certain elements integrated into other solutions in the future.
In particular, the leveraging of computer vision and AI to recognize, interpret and analyze what an instrument sees, and guide the users through valuable, time-saving routines. This is not a dumbing-down of field practices. It is instead a way to use very clever tools to help skilled professionals reach their full potential for precision and efficiency. Beep on!