A Quantitative Assessment of LIDAR Data Accuracy

Airborne laser scanning sensors are impressive in their ability to collect a large number of topographic points in three dimensions in a very short time thus providing a high-resolution depiction of complex objects in the scanned areas. The quality of any final product naturally depends on the origi...

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Main Authors: Ahmed Elaksher, Tarig Ali, Abdullatif Alharthy
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2023-01-01
Series:Remote Sensing
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/15/2/442
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author Ahmed Elaksher
Tarig Ali
Abdullatif Alharthy
author_facet Ahmed Elaksher
Tarig Ali
Abdullatif Alharthy
author_sort Ahmed Elaksher
collection DOAJ
description Airborne laser scanning sensors are impressive in their ability to collect a large number of topographic points in three dimensions in a very short time thus providing a high-resolution depiction of complex objects in the scanned areas. The quality of any final product naturally depends on the original data and the methods of generating it. Thus, the quality of the data should be evaluated before assessing any of its products. In this research, a detailed evaluation of a LIDAR system is presented, and the quality of the LIDAR data is quantified. This area has been under-emphasized in much of the published work on the applications of airborne laser scanning data. The evaluation is done by field surveying. The results address both the planimetric and the height accuracy of the LIDAR data. The average discrepancy of the LIDAR elevations from the surveyed study area is 0.12 m. In general, the RMSE of the horizontal offsets is approximately 0.50 m. Both relative and absolute height discrepancies of the LIDAR data have two components of variation. The first component is a random short-period variation while the second component has a less significant frequency and depends on the biases in the geo-positioning system.
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spelling doaj.art-ec5ec8b3682e462bb57d6858f26755a62023-12-01T00:20:53ZengMDPI AGRemote Sensing2072-42922023-01-0115244210.3390/rs15020442A Quantitative Assessment of LIDAR Data AccuracyAhmed Elaksher0Tarig Ali1Abdullatif Alharthy2College of Engineering, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM 88003-0001, USADepartment of Civil Engineering, College of Engineering, American University of Sharjah, Sharjah 26666, United Arab EmiratesMinistry of National Guard, Riyadh 11173, Saudi ArabiaAirborne laser scanning sensors are impressive in their ability to collect a large number of topographic points in three dimensions in a very short time thus providing a high-resolution depiction of complex objects in the scanned areas. The quality of any final product naturally depends on the original data and the methods of generating it. Thus, the quality of the data should be evaluated before assessing any of its products. In this research, a detailed evaluation of a LIDAR system is presented, and the quality of the LIDAR data is quantified. This area has been under-emphasized in much of the published work on the applications of airborne laser scanning data. The evaluation is done by field surveying. The results address both the planimetric and the height accuracy of the LIDAR data. The average discrepancy of the LIDAR elevations from the surveyed study area is 0.12 m. In general, the RMSE of the horizontal offsets is approximately 0.50 m. Both relative and absolute height discrepancies of the LIDAR data have two components of variation. The first component is a random short-period variation while the second component has a less significant frequency and depends on the biases in the geo-positioning system.https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/15/2/442assessmentLIDARGPSsurveyingRMSEaccuracy
spellingShingle Ahmed Elaksher
Tarig Ali
Abdullatif Alharthy
A Quantitative Assessment of LIDAR Data Accuracy
Remote Sensing
assessment
LIDAR
GPS
surveying
RMSE
accuracy
title A Quantitative Assessment of LIDAR Data Accuracy
title_full A Quantitative Assessment of LIDAR Data Accuracy
title_fullStr A Quantitative Assessment of LIDAR Data Accuracy
title_full_unstemmed A Quantitative Assessment of LIDAR Data Accuracy
title_short A Quantitative Assessment of LIDAR Data Accuracy
title_sort quantitative assessment of lidar data accuracy
topic assessment
LIDAR
GPS
surveying
RMSE
accuracy
url https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/15/2/442
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