Mobile Laser Scanning
Mobile Laser Scanning (MLS) is a new technology in which objects are continuously mapped by laser distance measurement from driving vehicles (such as a Multivan Pickup, SUV or even a ship or railway train), and transformed into a 3D point cloud using GPS/IMU data.
A comparison with laser mapping technologies that have been around for some years – Airborne Laser Scanning (ALS) and Terrestrial Laser Scanning (TLS) – shows that MLS combines components of both ALS and TLS. Angle of view, high point density and genuine 3D data are comparable with TLS. Georeferencing capability and efficiency – in the sense of speedy mapping of large areas – are comparable characteristics of ALS.
Just like the other methods (ALS and TLS), Mobile Laser Scanning allows to combine the laser scanners e.g. with RGB cameras in order to collect image data simultaneously with the laser data and to georeference them.