Now You See It… Now You Don’t: Understanding Airborne Mapping LiDAR Collection and Data Product Generation for Archaeological Research in Mesoamerica

Abstract

In this paper we provide a description of airborne mapping LiDAR, also known as airborne laser scanning (ALS), technology and its workflow from mission planning to final data product generation, with a specific emphasis on archaeological research. ALS observations are highly customizable, and can be tailored to meet specific research needs. Thus it is important for an archaeologist to fully understand the options available during planning, collection and data product generation before commissioning an ALS survey, to ensure the intended research questions can be answered with the resultant data products. Also this knowledge is of great use for the researcher trying to understand the quality and limitations of existing datasets collected for other purposes. Throughout the paper we use examples from archeological ALS projects to illustrate the key concepts of importance for the archaeology researcher.

Keywords

• mapping LiDAR
• airborne laser scanning
• archaeology
• point clouds
• digital elevation models
• visualization
• prospection
• Mesoamerica