What's a good way to get into lidar scanning?
I'm very impressed with the mobile and aerial scans that I use at work as a civil engineer. I've also heard about a zillion startups that use lidar with UAVs. Has anybody here worked with lidar? I'm kind of interested in a stationary scanner--not professional GPS-enabled surveying equipment that costs tens of thousands of dollars, but just something that lets me make unanchored point clouds and align them manually later--if such a product exists.
Whoops, almost forgot:
>What does this have to do with DIY, homosexual?
Presumably, a lidar scan would be a quick way to create a site plan for a minor project. Of course, an amateur-created map of this nature wouldn't be acceptable for getting a permit from your local government (see also: https://ij.org/case/california-mapping/ ), but it would be sufficient for projects that don't need a permit.
>quick way
It is not.
if you want a diy lidar then pick a geometry (probably cylindrical or spherical) then you point the laser, measure the distance, note the position.
simple as that
>then you point the laser
But what laser? That's what I'm asking about. Do you have any recommendations?
>Do you have any recommendations?
no
you can get a cheap handheld tape measure type laser range finder on Amazon for 20 bucks bu you would have to connect to it somehow to take readings.
depends how much precision you want, you can diy something with some scavanged laser diode/optics/detector easily but realistically time of flight is very difficult to do due to timing involved. you can do something like FMCW if you want to get into some maths lol. interferometry setup shouldn't be too crazy.
its a big world out there guy, have you had a look at any existing diy projects? anything catch your fancy?
iPad pro has a lidar feature. It's not great, the range is very small and you have to walk around your space and point it at everything to make a scan, but it's the cheapest way to make these kinds of scans. There's actually very good software support for the lidar feature and you can do a lot of very specialized tasks with it.
Also moasure has similar tool but without lidar tech
a year ago i'd say intel realsense, but their new CEO shut it down
Dude what part of search engine results on "diy lidar" you didn't like? It provides lots of good instructions for fun snd possibly useful projects
I was running searches for "buy lidar scanner", and getting nothing useful. It does look like "diy lidar" returns better results.
Lidar is rad as frick. Wish some university would build a fleet of lidar drones for archaeological surveys and let students work on new data.
Anyway, I found this company (https://www.lidarusa.com/) that sells some cool shit, but it's not exactly entry level pricing. Unless it is for the field, idfk im an idiot.
have you considered photogrammetry? in most real world applications it's far more practical and produces just as good if not better data for less money. of course there are exceptions and you have to know what you're doing, but you need to know what you're doing with LIDAR too, mostly the processing stage
>What's a good way to get into lidar scanning?
i'm going to go out on a limb and say that owning a lidar unit and an airplane of some sort would be necessary, though a sensible alternative might be a hot-air balloon. (i think you're stuck shelling out for the lidar, though.)
Good luck, anon! Send us lots of pics!
>airplane
Lidar can be ground-mounted.
Check out the big brain on this goy. What are you going to find driving around with a lidar bolted to the hood of your car? The Lost Grand Mailbox of Atlantis, rumored to have been buried long ago under a mountain of junk mail?
I think you're joking, but just in case you aren't:
As a civil engineer, I am currently working with scans from a "mobile lidar" setup--a lidar scanner mounted on a truck that drove slowly down the length of a highway. These scans will form the base map for a project that involves the replacement of guardrail over a miles-long stretch of the highway.
Additionally, even stationary lidar can be used for a quick scan of a limited area, and scans from multiple stationary scans can be stitched together to form a larger whole.
rplidar (chinkese)
or if you're really looking to get involved, velodyne vlp16
ohh boy "request a quote"
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