LiDAR?

[Pointman]

I was just curious. I know nothing about LiDAR other than many years ago I was able to use some pictures on some private property to metal detect where a structure was. Is this technology feasible or even economically feasible to own for the average Joe? Can it be rented?

 

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[blauer]

Great question that I too have wondered about. Let's hope some knowledgeable persons chime in.

 

[robertk]

You don't have to buy or rent anything to use LIDAR. Search the forums for info, or see this thread.

 

[99thpercentile]

You can look at free LiDAR data that the US Geological Survey (USGS) collected as part of the 3DEP program on the LiDAR explorer website.

LidarExplorer

An online application that allows users to search and visualize Light Detection and Ranging (lidar) and its derived products. Users can find lidar, DEM, topobathymetric, and orthorectified radar image (ORI) data. The application uses Entwine Point Tile (EPT) format to help visualize projects in...

www.usgs.gov

This data is designed for topographical analysis and I think the contour lines are at about 1m so it isn’t very useful to find small targets.

LiDAR isn’t really a hobbiest activity beyond that as both the hardware and software is fairly expensive. The cheapest LiDAR sensor I have is about $15K and that mounts on my $25k drone that is connected to my $5K RTK GNSS base station and I use a $7K LiDAR processing software package. This is cheap for LiDAR as really good sensors and software are orders of magnitude more expensive. I had a Riegl RiCopter LiDAR system at a previous job that cost $500K for the drone and LiDAR package and $30K for the software.

You can rent the equipment as long as you have a business and business insurance as the rental company will ask for a certificate of insurance (COI) with them as a named beneficiary and probably coverage of a few million dollars. That is what my policy is for and I pay around $20K per year for my business insurance. You will need to purchase the software for processing the data. There are a few open source processing options but I would only suggest those for people who are already experts in remote sensing.