Point Cloud Streaming
Desktop-like point cloud performance in browser.
Lesson
Performance can tip the feasibility scale even for B2B, not just nice-to-have.
The lesson in full: In a B2B context, performance is usually lower on the list and not a make-or-break factor. However, enterprise users are consumers too and expectations are increasingly set by consumer-grade applications. Sometimes it’s worth taking on complex/full-stack challenges to create experiences that truly bring value to users: the ones that they actually use without frustration.
What it is
After handling the deployment lead role, this is one of the projects I worked on as part of the Foundation Team of Kognitwin. The goal was simple: make point cloud data fun and smooth to use and performant enough for both most desktops and some tablet devices. While our internal 3D engine already supported streaming point cloud data to a browser, there was a critical bottleneck on the web that the desktop client did not have: file API performance and resource caching. To solve this, I implemented 2 batching and caching layers on the client side with an LRU cache and IndexedDB, coupled with a server endpoint that operates on partial content requests (206). The end result basically brought the performance to mostly on par with the desktop client, which tipped the feasibility scale on most point cloud use-cases.
Tools and technologies
Point Cloud · IndexedDB · LRU Cache · HTTP 206
Lineage
Built on lessons from Digital Twin Platform, First Global Twin Deployment, Spatial Inspection Video.
Lessons carried into Drawings to 3D Scene.