Lidar CANEX 2023 Keynote Presentation by Dr. Tim Webster: Changes in Lidar Mapping Over the Past 20 Years

Lidar has come a long way in 20 years.

Lidar CANEX Keynote presentation speaker, Dr. Tim Webster, PhD, of the Applied Geomatics Research Group (AGRG) at Nova Scotia Community College (NSCC) used his experiences to discuss many of the changes that have occurred over the last two decades in mapping lidar (light detection and ranging).

The livestream presentation, held on Tuesday 25 Apr 2023, started with a brief discussion on the spelling of Lidar. Dr. Webster prefers it to be spelled lidar, instead of LiDAR, as it is now mainstream like radar and sonar. He went on to discuss radar and sonar, as well as giving a brief overview of how lidar works.

Dr. Webster went through laser ranging systems, inertial reference systems (IRS), navigation systems (INS), GNSS measurement units (1-2 seconds, 2Hz) and more. 

The keynote presentation included information on today’s topographic lidars, Leica Terrain Mapper-2, CityMapper-2, Optech Galaxy and Riegal VQ-1560 II. Dr. Webster talked about lidar processing products and data. Airborne lidar was discussed as it is being used for archeology, floodplain and city mapping, deriving watersheds and streams, forest inventory, corridor and geological mapping. Bathymetric lidar was also mentioned, as well as the use of mobile mapping laser scanners. Dr. Webster said the use of those scanners integrated with GPS and IMU navigation systems allowed for an improvement in the ability to capture more complete data. 

Throughout the presentation, Dr. Webster offered vivid examples using the research and work of the AGRG, including their involvement and results before, during, and after Hurricane Fiona, 2022. A Q&A session followed the presentation.

A heartfelt thank you to our Lidar CANEX 2023 sponsors.