Airborne Laser Scanning to Digital Elevation Model – LAStools approach

Abstract

Airborne Laser Scanning (ALS) is one of the most popular and cost-effective approaches for collecting Digital Elevation Model (DEM) data. This especially applies to large areas, forested areas, areas with dense vegetation and urban environments. The ALS results in a vast amount of data in the form of point clouds. Successful use of such data requires applying semi-automatic and automatic approaches to classify points according to which objects or phenomena it represents. LAStools software package represents a set of highly efficient tools for processing ALS data. Through this study, the functionality of the LAStools software package for DEM generation has been analyzed. The proposed procedure for generating DEM products from ALS point cloud with LAStools has been determined and presented. The study also focuses on the important parameters of each tool in the proposed DEM procedure, with a special focus on advantages and disadvantages, possibilities and limitations.