Elementary error model applied to terrestrial laser scanning measurements: study case arch dam Kops

All measurements are affected by systematic and random deviations. A huge challenge is to correctly consider these effects on the results. Terrestrial laser scanners deliver point clouds that usually precede surface modeling. Therefore, stochastic information of the measured points directly influences the modeled surface quality. The elementary error model (EEM) is one method used to determine error sources impact on variances-covariance matrices (VCM). This approach assumes linear models and normal distributed deviations, despite the non-linear nature of the observations. It has been proven that in 90% of the cases, linearity can be assumed. In previous publications on the topic, EEM results were shown on simulated data sets while focusing on panorama laser scanners. Within this paper an application of the EEM is presented on a real object and a functional model is introduced for hybrid laser scanners. The focus is set on instrumental and atmospheric error sources. A different approach is used to classify the atmospheric parameters as stochastic correlating elementary errors, thus expanding the currently available EEM. Former approaches considered atmospheric parameters functional correlating elementary errors. Results highlight existing spatial correlations for varying scanner positions and different atmospheric conditions at the arch dam Kops in Austria