Things
Images contain information not easily seen with standard photographic techniques and equipment. On a large scale, a builder, architect, realtor or home owner may be interested in a property's overall layout and composition. On a slightly smaller scale, high precision scans of interiors and products are essential for remodeling, reconstruction, production, and restoration.
The image below is a 35 acre area taken from Google Maps. While it's useful to get a general idea of how the property is laid out, it doesn't provide a lot of detail.
The second image is the same area as the first image, but shows the relative height of the terrain. It's created with an aerial drone equipped with a LIDAR sensor that senses the ground under the tree canopy. Notice the small creek on the right side of the image that's invisible in the original photograph. Accuracy is within a few centimeters.
The third image shows the relative grade of the terrain. Lighter colors indicate a steeper grade.
Finally, a fully digital movie of the entire property. It begins with a complete orbit of the property if different modes: photographic data, height encoded data, digital elevation map, and digital elevation with contour lines. The contour lines were arbitrarily set to 2 meters.
