Drones for Surveying

How to Improve Drone LiDAR Accuracy


The 3D Accuracy Star add-on software and Accuracy Star Hardware for LP360 Drone can achieve automated vertical and horizontal accuracy checks and improvements.

Now available for use with LP360 Drone UAV LiDAR and photogrammetry data processing software is the 3D Accuracy Star add-on software and Accuracy Star hardware.  Accuracy Star is a target especially designed for drone LiDAR projects to be installed on your tripod. When used with 3D Accuracy Add-on in LP360, you can achieve automated vertical and horizontal accuracy checks and improvements.

In the video below, Darrick Wagg, the VP Of customer Success at GeoCue, reviews the new hardware and demonstrates how to incorporate the accuracy star into the workflow of LP360.

Increasing Accuracy

When it comes to using LiDAR, accuracy refers to how close a measured or computed value is to the real value.  To achieve the highest results on a project, it’s important to collect and provide the most accurate data, within the specifications and criteria of the project.

The Accuracy Star target is specially designed for drone LiDAR projects to be used in conjunction with your tripod, to assess the difference between the Ground Control Target position and the Ground Control Point position.

According to Wagg, “When used together, Accuracy Star and the 3D Accuracy add-on provide automated horizontal and vertical checks. You can automatically find a 3D target on a drone dataset. The software will calculate the correction for any 3D target and provide a seamless workflow to apply the correction on the point cloud.”

A profile of the Accuracy Star Hardware in LP360

The configuration of the Accuracy Star, with the five extended arms, helps define where the control point is located. Then, LP360 can process the X, Y, and Z offsets that need to be applied to debias the point cloud automatically, with the Accuracy Star add-on software.  Overall, the accuracy assessment provides the difference on X, Y, and Z between the position of the center of the AS (hexagonal target) and the reference point it measures by external means (GNSS in RTK or PPK or NRTK, topographic survey (total station…)).

LP360 provides a seamless workflow to apply the correction on the point cloud and automatically transform your check point coordinates into your project coordinates including datum and epoch. The software can “AutoTarget” and automatically find a 3D target on a drone dataset, and provide the calculation of correction for any target.

“The nice thing about this new 3D Accuracy add-on in LP360,” Wagg explains, “is that we used to have to take all this information and build a point cloud task off and run it against our data set. Now you can just click a button to debias the point cloud and make it better fit with the control points.”

Accuracy Star does not include a tripod or base station, but it is compatible with your preferred equipment.

To learn more about implementing the Accuracy Star and the 3D Accuracy add-on to your LiDAR workflow, schedule a time to meet with one of our knowledgeable representatives.