What is Laser Scanning?
Laser scanning is a measurement technology that creates a three-dimensional map of an object or area using laser beams.
Overview
Laser scanning calculates the position of objects with millimeter precision by sending millions of laser pulses to the target surface. By measuring the return time of the reflected beams, a detailed three-dimensional digital model consisting of points is obtained. The generated point clouds are used to transfer the physical world into a digital environment.
How it works
Sensors fire rapid laser pulses into the environment and collect the light bouncing off the surface. The system processes the round-trip time and angle of each beam to create precise coordinates. These collected coordinate combinations are merged and converted into high-resolution three-dimensional point cloud data.
Where it is used
It is frequently used in autonomous vehicles to recognize the environment and in creating digital twins for construction and architecture projects. It is also widely preferred in historical artifact restoration and surveying studies.
Commonly confused with
It can be confused with photogrammetry. While photogrammetry performs calculations based on photographs, laser scanning measures distance directly with light pulses.
Questions and answers
Are laser scanning and LiDAR the same thing?
LiDAR is a specific type of sensor based on laser scanning technology. Laser scanning, on the other hand, is the general name for all measurement and modeling processes performed with this principle.
In what format is laser scanning data stored?
These systems store data in special data formats containing billions of coordinates called point clouds.
Related terms
This explanation was written in plain language for TreScout with AI and machine-translated from the Turkish original · the Turkish version prevails. If something looks wrong or missing, write to hello@trescout.com. Read in Turkish →