Abstract: Systems and methods for adjusting the location and scale of a three-dimensional (“3D”) model of an object to conform to a georeferenced point cloud are provided herein. The 3D model and the georeferenced point cloud are rendered in a shared 3D coordinate system and the 3D model and the georeferenced point cloud are aligned from a first point of view. An affine transformation matrix is calculated based on a best fitting plane of the point cloud and a corresponding face of the 3D model to align the best fitting plane and the corresponding face of the 3D model. The affine transformation matrix is then applied to all coordinates of the 3D model to generate a new 3D model that aligns with the georeferenced point cloud from a second point of view.

Abstract: A process for recovering thermoplastic polymer particles from an expanded thermoplastic polymer material includes grinding the expanded thermoplastic polymer material in a grinding chamber under elevated temperature while feeding ionized gas through the grinding chamber during the grinding. An apparatus for recovering the thermoplastic polymer particles from the expanded thermoplastic polymer material includes a grinding chamber into which the expanded thermoplastic polymer material is introduced, the grinding chamber having grinding components therein, one or more inlet passages at a bottom potion of the grinding chamber for entry of ionized gas, and optionally also for entry of hot gas, and one or more outlet passages at a top portion of the grinding chamber for exit of gases from the grinding chamber.