Airborne mapping is advancing at an unprecedented pace, driven by innovations in lidar, photogrammetry, and sensor integration. This session brings together leaders in the field to explore the latest developments shaping high-altitude data collection and analysis. Presentations will cover breakthroughs in photon-counting lidar and systems achieving 10+ MHz measurement rates, the rise of modern large-format and multi-sensor camera systems, and results from a controlled side-by-side comparison of competing airborne lidar platforms. Additional research will highlight how flight line overlap influences data quality in forestry applications, informing acquisition strategies and best practices. Together, these talks illustrate how today’s technologies are setting new benchmarks for accuracy, efficiency, and insight in airborne geospatial data collection.
The following presentations will be shared in this session:
Advancements in Airborne Lidar Technology – Counting Photons to Achieve 10+ MHz
Presented by Zhigang Pan, Leica Geosystems
Over the last twenty years, commercial airborne lidar technology has advanced from measuring 10,000 to 25,000 points-per-second (or 10-25kHz) to 2,000,000-4,500,000 points-per-second (or 2-4.5MHz) based on linear-mode laser scanning. In more recent years, non-linear detection technologies have further advanced these measurement rates to 6MHz and beyond. Single Photon-counting Lidar (or SPL) was commercially introduced by Leica Geosystems in 2017 as the SPL100 and since then has been used on projects around the world for high-density measurements of forest structure, infrastructure and terrain at country-scale. This presentation will update on the latest developments around SPL, describe technical challenges overcome and inform on what comes next for airborne lidar capable of measuring at over 10MHz, at high altitudes and with accuracies comparable to linear-mode detection.
Advancing Airborne Sensing: High-Definition Lidar for Hyper-Dense Data Collection
Presented by Nathan Hopper, Woolpert, Inc.
Woolpert’s Advanced Sensing and Processing initiative is pioneering advancements in airborne lidar technology through its development of sensors capable of high-altitude, hyper-dense data collection. These systems represent significant milestones in high-resolution geospatial data collection, tailored to meet the evolving demands of defense, civil, and commercial sectors.
BULLDOG is a research, development, test, and evaluation program that demonstrated the feasibility of high-altitude airborne topo/bathy. It achieved this by integrating GmAPD-based time-of-flight lidar with synchronized multi-channel capabilities for shallow and deep bathymetry, enabling precise waveform capture and real-time environmental monitoring. Its modular architecture supports flexible configurations, making it ideal for sensing complex environmental features.
Zeus, Woolpert’s latest innovation, combines single-photon-sensitive and traditional linear mode detector technologies to deliver exceptional point densities—exceeding 1000 points per square meter in hyper-density mode. Designed for efficiency and scalability, Zeus utilizes Geo AI-driven post-processing to provide customizable feature extraction workflows, ensuring mission-specific deliverables with minimal latency.
This presentation will discuss how Bulldog and Zeus exemplify Woolpert’s commitment to advancing airborne sensing to meet our clients’ needs through integrated hardware, intelligent software, and operational agility. These platforms enhance data richness and reliability while streamlining the transition from data collection to actionable insights.
Impact of Lidar Flight Line Overlap for Forestry Applications
Presented by Mischa Hey, NV5
Modern tier-one lidar sensors are capable of achieving high point densities with a single pass, prompting the question: is there still value in overlapping flight lines? The answer depends on both the intended application and the characteristics of the landscape being surveyed. This presentation summarizes methods and findings from an analysis conducted for the U.S. Forest Service to quantify and isolate the effects of flight line overlap in forestry applications. The study evaluated impacts on canopy surface models, ground return density, vertical point distribution metrics, and lidar intensity across varying forest types. Findings are intended to inform acquisition strategies across different geographies and help end users understand how single versus overlapping line coverage can influence downstream analyses relevant to forestry operations.
Dueling Lidars: A Comprehensive, Time-Synchronous Evaluation of Competing Airborne Lidar Systems
Presented by Christian Stallings, Vertical Aspect and Mantas Vaskela, AISPECO
Comparing airborne lidar systems is often fraught with inconsistencies due to environmental variability, differing flight conditions, and inherent biases in manufacturer-led analyses. At Vertical Aspect and AISPECO, we have designed a controlled, side-by-side testing approach that minimizes these variables, providing the clearest possible comparison between competing sensors. Leveraging the modular architecture of the AISPECO Lite platform, we mounted two lidar systems, one a cost-effective sensor from a Chinese manufacturer, the other a premium system from a globally recognized vendor, onto a single airborne platform. Both sensors were operated simultaneously using a shared, high-precision INS to ensure perfect time and trajectory synchronization.
This presentation will walk through the results of this dual-sensor experiment, highlighting differences in data quality, noise, point density, and other key metrics based on established industry standards. By removing environmental and navigational discrepancies, this analysis offers an objective look at performance and value, providing critical insights for end users evaluating lidar investments. We’ll also share lessons learned from designing and flying this unique test configuration.
