Horizontal Aerial LIDAR?

[Anonymous]

This question has been debated among experts. Some argue that photogrammetry can be very accurate, others claim otherwise. "For top accuracy (a must in my project) LIDAR is the way to go"

The Sixth Floor Museum in Dallas has not been very receptive to my plans to bring a laser scanner to the 6th. Floor. Its southeast corner is the infamous Sniper's Nest. A Plan "B" is needed.

I am told by a terrestrial competitor of the dronecopters that as the bird flies higher, the accuracy is lower. However, my plan is to fly the chopper within inches outside the windows. The scanner would be positioned horizontally.

See the disappointing results that I have with my current data. I received it as a donation from one of my fellow techies who worked in this program:

PBS NOVA Cold Case JFK: Laser Scanning and 3D Models  

The distinctive brick pattern is found in Floors No. 1 and No. 6:

Notice the huge difference. This is the section near the scanner:

Distinctive Brick Patterns

and this is at the higher floor:

Brick Patterns are Gone with the Distance

The Aerial LIDAR operators are VERY busy, traveling all over and expensive. OTOH, I am getting a great discount from the terrestrial folks.

Does it make sense to perform a scan with the "camera" pointing horizontally, very close to the target?

TIA,

-Ramon F. Herrera
JFK Numbers
ramon@jfknumbers.org