ABSTRACT
Terrestrial Laser Scanning (TLS) is a laser ranging theory based technology for rapid Three-Dimensional (3D) measurement and mapping of surfaces by acquiring the location of a large number of points in three dimensions with high accuracy allowing to build a high resolution 3D surface model. The method has several advantages in comparison to traditional mapping methods, providing a higher accuracy, being less labor and time consuming and enabling the mapping of sites that are not easy or dangerous to access in the field. TLS has already been used in a wide range of fields, such as infrastructure construction, topography and geological hazard survey. Xie et al. (2013) applied TLS to monitor the deformation of a large landslide in Wudongde hydropower station, Yunnan Province (Southwest China), and to acquire a Digital Eleva-
spatial distribution of topographic changes but frequently under-and over-estimated deposition heights. Hu et al. (2012) used TLS to establish a 3D surface model of an open pit mine and with the help of a 3D geological model they analyzed the stability of the slope of the open pit. In order to assess destabilizing and triggering factors and model cliff dynamics along the Diepper’s shoreline in High Normandy, Michoud et al. (2014) used boat-based mobile laser scanning to measure 3D point clouds of unstable coastal cliffs in 2012 and 2013, respectively, with median point spacing of up to 10 cm. Lato and Vöge (2012) developed a C++ based application named PlaneDetect, which can be used to automatic mapping of fractures in sandstones using 3D surface point clouds from TLS data. The fractures generated by PlaneDetect were extremely accurate when compared to the manual digital mapping approach.
