Mobile LiDAR can capture suitable interiors quickly, while terrestrial laser scanning, control and independent checks remain available where greater geometric confidence is required.
Mobile LiDAR systems capture three-dimensional information while the surveyor moves through a building. SLAM — simultaneous localisation and mapping — helps the system estimate its changing position while building a spatial representation of the environment.
This can make capture considerably faster than repeatedly setting up a static scanner. The trade-off is that a mobile trajectory behaves differently from a controlled terrestrial scan network. Geo Scan therefore treats mobile scanning as its own survey method, with its suitability assessed against the required accuracy, geometry, access and final deliverables.
Where dependable higher-accuracy geometry carries the project, we can combine mobile capture with terrestrial laser scanning and appropriate control rather than asking the mobile system to do a job for which another method is better suited.
SLAM accuracy depends on the equipment, environment, route, movement, geometry, processing and control. Long featureless routes, repetitive geometry, poor loop closure and difficult surfaces can all affect the result. For that reason, Geo Scan does not apply a blanket accuracy claim to every mobile scanning project.
Where the information needs stronger geometric confidence, we can constrain or compare mobile data using surveyed targets, common TLS geometry, total-station observations or independent check measurements. Our TLS accuracy guide explains why control, geometry and independent checks matter when judging a completed survey dataset.
The workflow starts with the intended use of the data. Capture speed only creates value when the resulting information remains appropriate for the project.
We agree coverage, deliverables, coordinate requirements, accuracy needs and the decisions the data must support.
We choose mobile-only, controlled mobile infill or a hybrid mobile-and-TLS methodology according to the site and brief.
The surveyor follows planned routes and uses loops, common geometry, targets or independent observations where appropriate.
Data is processed, aligned and checked before suitable point cloud or downstream outputs are issued.
LiDAR surveying is the wider commercial requirement and may use static terrestrial, mobile or hybrid capture. This page owns the mobile method specifically: the sensor moves through the environment and its trajectory must be estimated continuously. For a method-neutral commission, use the LiDAR Surveys page.
Not automatically. Mobile SLAM and static TLS have different measurement and positioning characteristics. The appropriate method depends on the equipment, environment, required tolerance and how the data will be used.
Yes. Mobile data can be used as supplementary capture and related to an authoritative TLS survey through suitable common geometry, targets, control and checks. The exact workflow depends on the project.
It can contribute where its performance is appropriate to the required information. For geometry requiring tighter confidence, Geo Scan can retain terrestrial scanning or conventional survey observations as the controlling framework.
Where the selected capture and processing platform supports an appropriate E57 export, it can form part of the agreed deliverables. File formats are confirmed at scope stage so the output suits the client software and downstream workflow.
TLS is generally the stronger choice where tighter verified geometry, survey control, fabrication interfaces, deformation work or other accuracy-critical relationships carry the project risk.