INFRASTRUCTURE MAPPING FROM LASER BASED SYSTEMS

Abstract

Mobile mapping is the process of collecting geospatial data on a moving platform. This technology is needed for making accurate 3D visualization possible with deployment of lesser man power. Lidar finds its application in volumetric studies and topographic as well as bathymetric app lical ions. Lidar data capture is found to be suited for high accuracy planning, building and maintenance. This study attempts at testing Lidar data of various densities and various data processing plugins for infrastructure mapping applications. The features aimed to be mapped are building heights, building slopes, poles, bridges, culverts and elements of the building façade. A lidar data layer contains the information about the x, y and z coordinates, intensity values and return numbers. This data is available in *.las and ASCII formats. The software used at present is ArcG1S using the plugin LP360. LP360 is capable of generating 3d models, 2d digital maps and 40 videos with a combination of other plugins that are available in ArcGIS itself. Although the technology has application has unmatched advantages like fast collection of high accuracy, high density geo-referenced point clouds, weather independence etc. but at the same time is also holds limitations in terms of storage and processing of large sums of data.