Laser scanning uses a technology similar to airborne lidar, but is done from static positions at ground level. It is used in support of much more finite applications while producing greater detail and accuracy than airborne units. It has many applications, but the vast majority of our work is in the category of existing conditions surveys. Generally, laser scanning is useful in almost any situation having the requirement to determine precise 3-dimensional relationships between objects. However, we have identified 4 considerations where its practicality and efficiency can be best applied and exploited: needed level of detail, safety, (lack of) accessibility, and traffic/business disruption.
Potential projects that include one or more of these concerns will generally benefit from laser scanning. In fact, the more of these concerns that a project entails, the more appropriate laser scanning becomes. Laser scanning allows us to put a crew onsite in a safe location and collect all the data we need to produce an accurate survey in a timely manner.
Pictured above:
Laser scanned cross-sections of a 7-lane highway. Each of the colored dots that make up the picture represents an exact measurable XYZ Cartesian coordinate. Thus, any object that can be identified in the picture (i.e. curb faces, utilities, lane markings, signage, etc.) can be accurately depicted in an existing conditions survey.