Looking Forward and Back
Welcome to the second edition of the LiDAR Magazine. I would like to take this opportunity to thank many of you for the compliments that we have received on our first edition. It is very encouraging. This is truly a team effort, so for all the people behind the scenes that make this magic happen— congratulations for a job well done, and all of us will continue to work at earning your praise. 9/11 is one of those life changing events that ....
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Linking Lidar to Coastal Stewardship
The workload just keeps growing for local, state, and federal officials charged with safeguarding the vitality and natural resources of U.S. coastal communities. The nation’s population living near the oceans and Great Lakes has grown by 47 percent since 1970, and this rapid growth is placing unprecedented demands on coastal communities. These communities are also on the front lines of intensifying natural hazards, a point ....
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BuckEye in 2011 and Beyond: Delivering High-Resolution Terrain Data to the Warfighter
The U.S. Army Geospatial Center’s (AGC) BuckEye program is not just another LIDAR technology program. BuckEye, named for Ohio State’s mascot, the home of America’s leading photogrammetry department, is focused on tactical warfighter needs. As a result, BuckEye has evolved through urban warfare missions in Iraq and Afghanistan to collect what warfighters need—coincidently collected 1m post-spacing terrain data with 10cm color ....
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Software Review: Quick Terrain (QT) Modeler
For the past ten years the major geospatial software packages have offered little to no support for LiDAR data. Visualizing and analyzing LiDAR data often entailed hours, days, or even weeks of processing time, and even then the results were typically less than ideal. This is understandable, many GIS and image processing software packages have to be the jack-of-all-trades and master of none. Quick Terrain (QT) Modeler, produced by Applied Imagery, is designed for one thing—working with LiDAR data. The software lives up to its name in that it is ....
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The Importance of Applied Control
The data you capture is only as good as the applied control. Mobile LiDAR data, on its own, is not what we would classify as “survey accurate”—meaning accurate enough to defend (sign and seal) for engineering design or similar services. Now that I’ve got your attention, that same statement can be said for practically any survey instrument, because the result depends entirely on the standard of care applied during collection and ....
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Putting the pieces together— Laser scan geo-referencing
Greetings and welcome from the US Northwest! In the last issue, I related some fun experiences while scanning seacliffs in San Diego. In this article, I would like to discuss some of the challenges we faced while trying to geo-reference our data and the subsequent development of a freely available program, PointReg to enable fast, accurate alignment of laser scan data. Point Cloud Alignment First, I would like to briefly review ....
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Terrestrial Mobile LiDAR Scanning (TMLS) and Static Scanning Combined
Much has been written, debated and discussed about the pros and cons of both Terrestrial Mobile LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) Scanning—TMLS and Static Laser Scanning. This is especially evident in the world of transportation survey. However, less information seems to have been presented on the topic of combining these two technologies for documentation of buildings and structures. While each method has its ....
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Autodesk and Bentley Systems Talk About Mobile LiDAR
Software is the key to a complete solution for the end-user— there is no question about it. Hardware manufacturers continue to build advanced mobile mapping systems—like Topcon’s new HD Mapper system that collects 1.3 million LiDAR points per second. But when it comes down to the applications, software is essential to transforming massive datasets into bottom-line deliverables for the customer. Autodesk and Bentley Systems are ....
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TopoLift—Reinventing the Tripod for Laser Scanning
As the old saying goes, “Necessity is the mother of invention”. “Necessity” is the only way to describe the motivation behind Certainty 3D’s development of TopoLIFT. With scanning technology becoming dramatically faster, the last remaining productivity killer in the field is standard tripod operation. Just ask any scanner operator who drags equipment from setup to setup, constantly seeking a higher vantage point to maximize point ....
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