{"id":48022,"date":"2018-08-07T10:44:13","date_gmt":"2018-08-07T17:44:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/?post_type=arcuser&#038;p=48022"},"modified":"2024-04-18T14:42:32","modified_gmt":"2024-04-18T21:42:32","slug":"an-introduction-to-lidar-data","status":"publish","type":"arcuser","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/arcuser\/an-introduction-to-lidar-data","title":{"rendered":"An Introduction to Lidar Data"},"author":1031,"featured_media":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"sync_status":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","castos_file_data":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[25022,211],"tags":[17202,1691],"arcuser_issues":[24952],"class_list":["post-48022","arcuser","type-arcuser","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hands-on","category-public-safety","tag-lidar","tag-situational-awareness","arcuser_issues-arcuser-summer-2018"],"acf":{"short_description":"A brief explanation of how light detection and ranging (lidar) works.","pdf":{"host_remotely":false,"file":"","file_url":""},"flexible_content":[{"acf_fc_layout":"pdf","file":53502},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"Light detection and ranging, or lidar, is a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/en-us\/capabilities\/imagery-remote-sensing\/overview\">remote-sensing technology<\/a> that uses pulsed laser energy (light) to measure ranges (distance). Engineers and earth scientists use lidar to accurately and precisely map and measure natural and constructed features on the earth\u2019s surface, within buildings, underground, and in shallow water. It has broad applications in many industries such as engineering and public safety.\r\n\r\nOften deployed in down-looking systems in the air or oblique geometries in ground systems, a lidar system includes a laser source, a scanner, and a GPS receiver. During a lidar survey, an active optical sensor transmits laser beams toward a target while moving along or rotating across defined survey routes or fixed objects.\r\n\r\nThe laser energy is reflected by the target and is detected and analyzed by receivers in the lidar sensor. The receiver records the precise time from when the laser pulse left the system to when it is returned to the sensor. Using precise pulse time, the range distance between the sensor and the target may be calculated.\r\n\r\nWhen combined with the positional information from GPS or an inertial navigation system (INS), these distance measurements are transformed into measurements of three-dimensional points that define the reflective target in 3D space. Lidar point data\u2014including laser time range, laser scan angle, GPS position, and INS information\u2014is postprocessed. It is then compiled into highly accurate georeferenced x,y,z coordinates by analyzing the laser time range, laser scan angle, GPS position, and INS information.\r\n\r\nLaser pulses return to the sensor from different reflective surfaces located above and on the ground. A single emitted pulse may return as one or more reflections. The first returned pulse is very important, as it marks the highest or tallest reflective surface. First returns can include treetops, building roofs, and vehicle tops. If no other reflective surfaces are encountered, a single first return may represent the earth\u2019s surface.\r\n\r\nA cloud of multiple intermediate returns allows modeling of forest canopy, ground cover, and some constructed features. The lowest elevation return may reflect from earth materials and support modeling of a single bare earth surface.\r\n\r\nFor additional information about lidar and its application in ArcGIS Pro, read the ArcGIS Pro topic, \u201cWhat is lidar data?\u201d"}],"references":null},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.9 (Yoast SEO v25.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>An Introduction to Lidar Data | Summer 2018 | ArcUser<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A brief explanation of how light detection and ranging (lidar) works.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/arcuser\/an-introduction-to-lidar-data\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"An 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