Airborne and terrestrial laser scanning

Written by a team of international experts, this book provides a comprehensive overview of the major applications of airborne and terrestrial laser scanning. The book focuses on principles and methods and presents an integrated treatment of airborne and terrestrial laser scanning technology. Laser scanning is a relatively young 3D measurement technique offering much potential in the acquisition of precise and reliable 3D geodata and object geometries. However, there are many terrestrial and airborne scanners on the market, accompanied by numerous software packages that handle data acquisition, processing and visualization, yet existing knowledge is fragmented over a wide variety of publications, whether printed or electronic. This book brings together the various facets of the subject in a coherent text that will be relevant for advanced students, academics and practitioners. After consideration of the technology and processing methods, the book turns to applications.The primary use thus far has been the extraction of digital terrain models from airborne laser scanning data, but many other applications are considered including engineering, forestry, cultural heritage, extraction of 3D building models and mobile mapping.