Version 18 (modified by anch, 14 years ago) (diff)

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Processing LIDAR data from Leica ALS50

This page describes the basic steps involved in processing the Raw Scan data from the Leica ALS50 II. More information can be found here

The first stage is to post-process the GNSS data and blend it with the IMU data to get the best position and altitude of the laser scanner for the flight. This uses the IPAS Pro and Grafnav software packages on windows.

Raw scan to point cloud

This stage of the processing takes the raw scanner files and georeferences them to create a point cloud of the data. This is usually in the binary LAS format but may be output as ASCII if you wish. This uses the ALSPP software.

After running the ALSPP check the % of first returns column in the main window. This should be high (probably >95%). If not then it may be an indicator to problems with the data (such as a large % of cloud coverage)

Data QC and further processing

Full QC procedure.

The final stages of the processing are to quality check the data and filter out noisy points. To do this we use the Terrasolid package within the Microstation CAD environment, and can be very time consuming. See tips on using Terrascan and also here for further notes from leica.

The main steps will be:

  • to re-classify noisy points (haze, low points and isolated points)
  • check the horizontal overlap between neighbouring lines
  • check the elevation overlap between neighbouring lines
  • check the data against OS vectors if available
  • if GCPs available then compare them against LIDAR

Calibration Files

The .reg files for the ALS processing can be found in the calibration directory of the ARSF repository in the lidar subdirectory. After a new calibration, write the details here and copy the new reg file to the arsf repository.

April 2010 day 096 - 2010_096_calibration.reg

March 2010 day 060 - 2010_060_calibration.reg

September 2009 day 268 - 2009268_final.reg

September 2009 day 252 - 2009252a_calibration.reg

June 2009 day 180 - sn89_calibration_2009180a.reg

February 2009 day 058 - sn89_leica_calibrated_ammended_rangecorr.reg

December 2008 - SN089_Calibrated_by_Lecia-081206.reg

November 2008 - 20081101_calibration.reg