CountryMapper Sensor Validation Survey Data

Publication Date

2020-06-02

Start Date

2019-09-05

End Date

2019-11-21

Irwin, J.R., Sampath, A., Kim, M., Bauer, M.A., Burgess, M.A., Park, S., and Danielson, J.J., 2020, CountryMapper Sensor Validation Survey Data: U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/P9CPDWUU.

Type: Related Primary Publication

Airborne lidar can provide high-quality topographic information over large areas. Lidar is an active remote sensing technology that employs laser ranging in near-infrared spectral wavelengths to provide three-dimensional (3D) point information for objects, including Earth’s surface, vegetation, and infrastructure. USGS 3DEP seeks to systematically acquire airborne topographic lidar for the conterminous U.S., Hawaii, and the U.S. territories. A series of field accuracy assessment surveys, using conventional surveying methods (i.e. total station and GNSS) along with GBL, UAS lidar, and UAS imagery, were conducted at test sites near Granby and Fort Collins, CO. The goal of the field surveys was to evaluate the 3D absolute and relative accuracy of airborne Leica Geosystems CountryMapper lidar acquired for the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and to determine if the data meets 3DEP specifications. Airborne lidar data accuracy is most commonly expressed in terms of the vertical error (RMSEz) of the Digital Elevation Model (DEM) produced from the lidar points that are classified as ground points, with little or no regard to the horizontal accuracy of the point cloud. High accuracy 3D point data are necessary to estimate the 3D accuracy of airborne lidar data. This requires validation data that is three times more accurate than the airborne lidar data such as point data collected from survey grade GNSS, total station, and GBL instruments. The survey data will be used to spatially assess the horizontal and vertical accuracy of the lidar produced by the Leica Geosystems CountryMapper Sensor along with analyzing plane to plane offsets between various infrastructure roof features. This research will help 3DEP determine if this sensor has the potential to meet current and future 3DEP topographic lidar collection requirements.

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