What is NavVis IVION?

NavVis IVION is a platform from the Munich-based manufacturer NavVis that brings captured building data together and makes it accessible in a browser: point clouds, 360-degree panoramas, BIM models in IFC format, orthophotos and vector maps. It is fed primarily from NavVis capture hardware, but also imports third-party scans in E57 format.

How do NavVis IVION and siteviewer differ?

The difference starts at capture. NavVis relies on its own mobile laser scanners and delivers survey-grade point clouds, which can feed scan-to-BIM and similar processes. siteviewer reconstructs from photos and video taken with equipment a team already owns — that costs accuracy and saves hardware, scheduling and training.

Do I need a NavVis scanner to use siteviewer?

No. You capture the site yourself with equipment you already have; a smartphone is usually enough. There is no capture hardware to buy.

Does NavVis use Gaussian Splatting as well?

Yes. With the Fall 26 update in IVION 12.0, NavVis introduced Gaussian Splats as a display type alongside point clouds and panoramas. That confirms the approach siteviewer is built on: a representation you move through freely, rather than jumping between fixed viewpoints.

When is NavVis IVION the better choice?

When survey-grade point clouds are the basis of the work — for scan-to-BIM, as-built verification or clash detection — when NavVis hardware is already in the building, or when IFC models and scan data need to sit in the same environment. In those cases IVION does something siteviewer does not.

Can existing NavVis scans still be used?

Yes. Point clouds can be brought in, for example in E57 or PLY format — whether they already exist or are produced later. They are not a prerequisite: siteviewer reconstructs from photos and video.

What does it take to get started with siteviewer?

Equipment you already own is enough for the capture. How Demo, Core and Enterprise differ is set out on the pricing page.

NavVis IVION and siteviewer compared

Why teams compare NavVis IVION and siteviewer

Anyone putting NavVis IVION and siteviewer side by side is usually after the same outcome: make a building digitally walkable, so that several parties can discuss it without travelling to it.

The two routes there are different, and the difference starts before the software — with the question of what you capture with. Almost everything else follows from that: what you have to buy, who can do the capture, how soon it can happen, and how accurate the result turns out to be.

How NavVis IVION and siteviewer compare

The comparison covers the standard case for both products, not special configurations.

siteviewer and NavVis IVION compared criterion by criterion
Criterion	siteviewer	NavVis IVION
Capture	Photos and video, taken with equipment you already own — usually a smartphone	Mobile laser scanners of the manufacturer's own making; third-party scans import in E57 format
Updating	The changed area is re-captured on a smartphone and merged in	A fresh scanning run across the affected area
Accuracy	Visual and spatial, typically 0.5–2 cm; not automatically survey-grade	Survey-grade point clouds as a basis for scan-to-BIM and as-built verification
Data types	Photorealistic view, measurement tools, layout imagery	Point clouds, 360-degree panoramas, IFC models, orthophotos, vector maps, and since IVION 12.0 Gaussian Splats
Delivery	Straight in the web browser, nothing for the viewer to install	In the browser; cloud and embedded deployment available
What the customer needs	A device that is already on hand	Capture hardware, either bought or commissioned
Commercials	Demo free, then Core or Enterprise — see pricing	NavVis publishes no prices

Gaussian Splatting at NavVis

With the Fall 26 update in IVION 12.0, NavVis introduced Gaussian Splats as a display type of their own, alongside the existing point clouds and panoramas. Anyone searching for NavVis Gaussian Splatting has, since autumn 2026, been looking at a shipped feature rather than an announcement.

We read that as a confirmation of the approach siteviewer is built on: a representation you move through freely, instead of stepping between fixed capture positions. Two manufacturers with very different origins have arrived at the same conclusion about how a building is best viewed.

The difference still holds, and it still sits upstream. At NavVis the splats come from data produced by their own scanners. At siteviewer they come from footage somebody shot on a phone.

Where siteviewer fits

siteviewer suits work where the tour is a means of agreement rather than a survey result:

The existing state needs documenting before a conversion starts — quickly, and without waiting for a scanning appointment.
Several sites need capturing, without organising hardware or a booking for each one.
The state of the building changes often, and every update should be possible without a new procurement.
Nobody in the organisation operates a laser scanner — but everybody operates a phone.

Where NavVis IVION is the better choice

There are jobs siteviewer is the wrong tool for. Four of them are unambiguous.

Scan-to-BIM and as-built verification. If the capture has to turn into a component model, or you are checking whether what was built matches what was drawn, you need a point cloud with dependable geometry. siteviewer does not produce one.

Guaranteed dimensions. Measuring is included in siteviewer, but measuring is not surveying. Where a figure is contractual or safety-relevant, the route runs through a surveying method.

An existing NavVis estate. If the scanners are already in the building and people are trained on them, the expensive hurdle has been cleared long ago. The advantage of capturing it yourself counts for much less then.

IFC models and scan data in one environment. IVION brings point clouds, panoramas and BIM models together. If that is precisely the workflow, it belongs there.

The converse also holds: existing point clouds do not rule siteviewer out. They can be brought in, for example in E57 or PLY format — whether they come from an earlier NavVis project or are produced later. They are not a prerequisite.

Limits

A siteviewer tour is not an automatically dependable CAD or BIM model. Measurements may only be relied upon once their accuracy has been established by a suitable method.

Areas that were not captured, or that were hidden behind equipment, cannot be reconstructed dependably — and they are simply absent from the result, with nothing to flag the gap. Large featureless surfaces, strong reflections, people in motion and changing light all make reconstruction harder; that applies to photo-based methods generally.

Data protection and site safety belong in capture planning, not in post-processing.

NavVis IVION and siteviewer: two routes to a walkable building