ABSTRACT

Recently, light detection and ranging (LIDAR) systems have emerged as a fast, accurate, and cost-effective technology for direct acquisition of highly dense 3D positional data from physical surfaces. The widespread adoption of LIDAR systems has been propelled by the improved performance and lower cost of modern direct geo-referencing technology (global navigation satellite systems [GNSS], inertial measurement units [IMU], and GNSS/IMU integration techniques). A LIDAR system is a combination of two main components: the direct geo-referencing and laser ranging components. The direct geo-referencing component provides the position and the attitude of the mapping platform. The laser ranging component, on the other hand, provides the distance between the laser-beam fi ring point and its footprint. The geo-referencing and ranging information are combined to provide the ground coordinates of the laser-beam footprints leading to a highly dense and accurate point cloud covering the mapped area.