Sky Lasers Map the Ground Below

Finding the correct areas in which endangered animal species can live is no easy task, just as delimiting those regions and turning them into reservations can sometimes prove to be very difficult. This all happens on account of poor mapping techniques, as most geologists still rely on old-fashioned methods to compile their maps of certain places. Now, a new system, which is solely dependent upon lasers for drawing imaginary lines and mapping riverbeds, creeks, ravines, and other such formations, promises to make geologists' lives a whole lot easier, while at the same time providing more in-depth analyses of how the places actually look like.

“It's kind of like going from your backyard telescope to the Hubble telescope. Restoring fish habitat is just one example. For the fisherman, backpacker, forester, land use planner or developer – anyone who uses map data – this new technology is the next revolution in mapping,” Noah P. Snyder, a geologist at Boston College, who has reported in this week's edition of the journal Eos published by the American Geophysical Union that airborne laser elevation (lidar) surveys are the most accurate ever devised, says.

According to the scientists, lidar is 10 times more accurate than any other standard mapping technique, mostly because it comes from up above, where the most complete vantage point is located. In the past, people had to walk the entire width of the regions and calculate elevation using colored sticks and measurement devices equipped with binoculars. The new mapping technique uses pulse beam lasers, which are shot downwards at a designated area. These waves of light bounce back from trees, water, mountains, and even ant nests, and are then recorded back at the source.

The distance is appreciated according to the time it takes the laser beam to travel back from the ground to the receptor. This provides an increased accuracy, as well as a very precise “depiction” of the ground below. “We can look at much finer scale features in streams using a remote mapping technique, as opposed to field work over the entire lengths of streams. Digitally, we can now connect topographical features to habitat characteristics or the habitat that needs to be restored,” Snyder, who is also the National Center for Airborne Laser Mapping steering committee chairman, explains.

“I don't think this will replace field investigations, but it will allow us to better focus our field investigations,” the researcher concludes.