Evaluation of Light Detection And Ranging for landslide mapping.

70278681PDFTech ReportF/CA/TL-2006/07EA 65-680446F-01-TL-18CaliforniaCalifornia. Dept. of TransportationWills, Chris J.California. Dept. of Transportation. Division of Research and InnovationUS Transportation CollectionThe Caltrans\ue2\u20ac\u2122 GeoResearch Group, in collaboration with the Department of Conservation, successfullyused LIDAR technology to map landslides along two heavily forested highway corridors in Humboldtand Del Norte Counties. LIDAR (Light Detection And Ranging) is a technique that uses reflectionsfrom lasers to determine distance, similar to a survey total station, but is typically performed aeriallyusing a denser array of laser sources from a small aircraft. LIDAR has an advantage overconventional mapping methods in that it can effectively map true ground surface, and not just treetopsin heavily forested areas. The LIDAR survey will be used in conjunction with traditional interpretationof aerial photographs and field methods to prepare landslide maps of two demonstration corridors.The deliverables of this study includes specifications for contracting LIDAR survey projects and thisreport that summarizes the results of the LIDAR surveys and their applicability to landslide mapping