LiDAR offers more detailed and faster performance in gathering and processing data for a geographical information system compared with aerial cameras that employ only photogrammetry. This higher performance, available in all LiDARit Laser Cameras, produces superior results in surveying, building 3D maps and conducting industrial inspections of certain types of infrastructure and equipment.

LiDAR is short for Light Detection and Ranging. Where photogrammetry measures RGB light or infrared light to plot distances between objects and their shape, LiDAR cameras produce laser light at multiple angles and measure the speed of its reflection off objects. Laser measurement is highly precise, and it can be done day or night. Laser measurement also can calculate distances that conventional light cannot.

For example, LiDAR is much more capable of measuring ground surface differences under heavy vegetation, even under a dense forest canopy. It delivers a truer model of actual variations at ground level than photogrammetry can in such circumstances. And on certain kinds of infrastructure, especially power lines, catenary systems and suspension cables, LiDAR is the superior inspection tool.

No less important is the speed of LiDAR. It gathers data faster than photogrammetry cameras can, and LiDAR data processes in a fraction of the time.