QUALITY ASSESSMENT OF LIDAR DATA BY USING PAVEMENT MARKINGS

ABSTRACT LiDAR technology has seen remarkable developments in recent years. In particular, the accuracy of the laser ranging has reached the few cm level for hard surfaces, close to static survey performance, and the point density has increased significantly, reaching 150 kHz PRF for multipulse LiDAR systems. These developments allow for better surface representation and exploitation of the 3D nature of the point cloud; in other words, the horizontal accuracy has become an equally important part of the product characterization. The high ranging accuracy of the laser sensor means that overall accuracy of the point cloud is predominantly determined by the quality of the navigation solution (typically based on GPS/IMU sensor integration). Despite recent significant advancements in navigation technologies, to achieve and sustain a high accuracy navigation solution of an airborne platform for longer flight lines over extended time is still a difficult task, as positional drift frequently occur. Moreover, there is no reliable way to assess the positioning quality of the data captured by the laser sensor within the LiDAR system, which is based on direct georeferencing. Therefore, using some ground control is almost mandatory if high accuracy is required. This paper introduces a method to use road pavement marking as ground control that could be used for QA/QC. These linear features are widely available in urban areas and along transportation corridors, where most of the government and commercial mapping takes place