ASPRS research on quantifying the geometric quality of lidar data

The ASPRS Lidar Cal/Val (calibration/validation) Working Group led by the US Geological Survey (USGS) to establish “Guidelines on Geometric Accuracy and Quality of Lidar Data” has made excellent progress via regular teleconferences and meetings. The group is focused on identifying data quality metrics and establishing a set of guidelines for quantifying the quality of lidar data. The working group has defined and agreed on lidar Data Quality Measures (DQMs) to be used for this purpose. The DQMs are envisaged as the first ever consistent way of checking lidar data. It is expected that these metrics will be used as standard methods for quantifying the geometric quality of lidar data. The goal of this article is to communicate these developments to the readers and the larger geospatial community and invite them to participate in the process.