LiDAR that finds the ground beneath the canopy.
Survey-grade terrain and canopy point clouds — laser scanning that reaches ground level through vegetation, where imagery alone cannot.
Laser pulse ranging
Classified point cloud, bare-earth DTM
Ground beneath vegetation
Measuring the ground a camera cannot see
LiDAR measures distance by timing laser pulses. Because an individual pulse can pass through a gap in the canopy and still return from the ground beneath, a LiDAR survey can resolve bare-earth terrain under vegetation — precisely the case where photogrammetry runs out of road.
The output is a dense, classified point cloud: millions of individually measured returns that can be separated into ground, vegetation and structure, then reduced to the terrain model, contours or cross-sections your engineering and planning work actually consumes.
What you get
Classified point cloud in LAS or LAZ format
Bare-earth digital terrain model with vegetation removed
Contours at an agreed interval
Canopy height and vegetation structure data
Cross-sections and long profiles along nominated alignments
Exports matched to your CAD or GIS workflow
How it works
Define terrain and accuracy targets
We establish what has to be resolved beneath the canopy, and to what tolerance, before any flight planning starts.
Plan for point density
Altitude, speed and line spacing are set to deliver the point density the terrain and vegetation actually demand.
Capture
The site is flown along planned lines, with control observed wherever absolute accuracy is required.
Classify and deliver
Returns are classified into ground, vegetation and structure, then reduced to the deliverables agreed at the outset.
Common questions
When do I need LiDAR instead of photogrammetry?
The short test is vegetation. If the ground you care about is visible from the air, photogrammetry will usually give you more detail for less money. If it sits under canopy, scrub or heavy brush, LiDAR is the tool that will actually reach it — see Mapping & Photogrammetry for the comparison.
How dense is the point cloud?
Point density is a planning decision rather than a fixed property — it follows from flight altitude, speed and line spacing. We set it from what you need to resolve, because over-specifying density adds flight time and processing cost without adding useful information.
Can you deliver in the format my software expects?
Point clouds are delivered as LAS or LAZ by default, with derived products exported to suit your CAD or GIS workflow. Tell us what you are working in and we will confirm export formats before delivery.
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