Airborne Laser Scanning: Remote Sensing with LiDAR

Discrete Return LiDAR Accuracy
• Average reported point location accuracies for a hard flat
reflective surface (e.g. airport runway):
2-15 cm vertical
25-100 cm horizontal
• Reported measurement accuracies: (forestry research, best cases)
Height prediction r 2 = 0.93 (Means 2000)
Volume prediction r 2 = 0.92 (Maclean and Krabill 1992)
Comparing field measurements to laser measurements
• Timing system accuracy is critical: 1 nanosecond = 30cm
• Accuracy is also affected by errors in GPS, surfacing and data
analysis
• Measurements of object height requires accurate surfacing to
provide accurate base height