Compatibility Evaluation of Point Clouds Acquired with Terrestrial and Mobile LiDAR Scanners

Abstract

Light Detection And Ranging (LiDAR) is a technology that arose in the last years as one of the best technologies to capture tridimensional information about features on the Earth´s surface. LiDAR measurements can be carried out over the ground in a static mode, with the scanner fixed on a tripod. This mode is known as Terrestrial LiDAR. LiDAR measurements can also be acquired in a kinematic mode when the scanner is assembled and transported on aircrafts, cars, boats and even in special vehicles that operate in underground mines and galleries. That second mode is called Mobile LiDAR where the LiDAR scanneris connected to an Inertial Navigation System (INS) and a dual frequency GNSS receiver that respectively provide the orientation and the position of a platform and consequently the direct georeferencing. This paper focus is to compare results obtained from data collected over the same area in both scanner modes but with uncertainties. This study has used both terrestrial and mobile LiDAR scanners to generate a 3D model of the terrain of a chosen area and to calculate the volume above a predefined reference plane. The same volume was estimated with a conventional topographic technique that uses collected points in the same area using RTK - GNSS receivers.