In this article I will discuss a topic that is frequently argued about in the data acquisition community: accuracy and precision. Read more...

In this article I will address the criticality of quality inspecting the DIM and classifying such that features not intended to be included in volumes, aren’t. Read more...

This article is the third in a 3-part series about coordinates and the systems to which they reference. Read more...

This article is the second in a 3-part series about coordinates and the systems to which they reference. Read more...

This article is the first in a series about coordinates and the systems to which they reference Read more...

We have been doing a lot of experimenting with various airplane and camera configurations for small Unmanned Aerial Systems (sUAS). We are very interested in the effect of camera quality on metric analysis. Our current experiments (see Figure 1) revolve around overall camera speed and synchronization. Read more...

Hiding behind a front of “air safety” and “complex problem”, the FAA has chosen to make no decision on sUAS. Meanwhile, most of the world is into the second generation of integrating sUAS into the commerce infrastructure. Read more...

This article discusses how our GeoCue product family can help make your team more productive. Read more...

This article provides information to classify buildings from LIDAR data in a timely fashion. Read more...

The small Unmanned Aerial Systems (sUAS) business is very appealing. For less than US $20,000, you can outfit a complete system for collecting aerial imagery and processing the data into an array of high quality mapping product. But who will roll out these new low cost mapping systems? Will it be the major airborne acquisition companies? Will it be quarry owners, land developers, coal fired power plants? Or will it be professional land surveyors? Read more...

This article discusses planning and collecting ground control and check points for drone mapping projects. Read more...

This article discusses the best approach to generate LIDAR stereo models in GeoCue for use with stereo compilation software. Read more...

This article provides a comparison of fixed wing “flying wings” versus gliders as mapping platflorms. Read more...

As we outlined in a previous “LP360 – Under the Hood”, we have added volumetric analysis to LP360. This feature was first released with 2013.2 at the end of last year with an enhanced version in our recent Experimental (EXP) release. An important element of the analysis associated with volumes is the generation of cross-sections. Read more...

This is the third installment in our series on the new Point Cloud Task (PCT) mechanisms introduced in LP360 version 2013.2 released in December of 2013. We have previously discussed the new Input/Output Manager (IOM) and the Conflate tool. We now will cover the Volumetric Analysis tools. Read more...

This article discusses LIDAR datasets that are freely available from multiple providers and using them as a source for working with LIDAR data in LP360. Read more...

This article was written by a recent student at Penn State who completed Penn State's online LIDAR training program using LP360. This paper takes a look at flooding in the Fox River Valley and its impact on housing using LIDAR and related technology. Read more...

In the last edition of LP360 News, we discussed the creation of 3D breaklines for enforcing situations where the elevation must be a constant along the breakline. In this final installment of the breakline series, we will consider the case of varying elevation along the breakline. Read more...

In the last edition of LP360 News, we discussed the creation of 3D breaklines. Recall that, for our purposes, a 3D breakline is a vector that has an elevation value (Z) associated with each vertex. In this edition, let’s look at a constant Z example such as a flat water body. Read more...

As we have discussed in the last two issues of LP360 News, breaklines are two- or three-dimensional graphic data (points, lines, polygons) that we introduce into an elevation model to alter the topology. Surveyed mass points, scanned contour lines, correlated stereo models, and myriad other sources produce irregular elevation data that can be modeled as a TIN, and tools (such as LP360) that can manipulate random points are generally adept at processing these various data sources. Read more...