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naraburns  nihil supernum  1yr ago (text post)   3176 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for December 30, 2022

Welcome to the final regular thread of 2022!

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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I have not personally used any phone-based systems (or point clouds from such systems). However, based on some YouTube videos that I've watched (1 2), it's my understanding that phone-based lidar systems work only at short range, and therefore are not suitable for scanning large swaths of terrain.*

For your purposes, photogrammetry may be more convenient. The OpenDroneMap software (1 2 3) can digest aerial photos and spit out a point cloud. (Disclaimer: I do not have a UAV and have not used this software.)

*Phone-based systems can be useful, though. I recall attending one presentation at work (several years ago) where our resident tech guru gushed over his test of a phone-based system (I don't remember whether it was lidar or photogrammetry) in surveying the corner of an intersection, which would be very convenient for designing ADA-compliant curb ramps.

No new information to add here, just thanking you for the helpful response. I think I'm going to dive a little deeper into the world of photogrammetry.

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