On March 8, the Transportation Research Board (TRB) released a prepublication version of the new “Guidelines for the use of mobile LiDAR in transportation applications.” Developed through funding from the National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP), the document was compiled over a year and a half of diligent research by a team of experts, led by Michael J. Olsen, PhD, EIT, a professor of Geomatics at Oregon State University (OSU). Other team members included Craig Glennie of the University of Houston; Gene Roe of MPN Components and LiDAR News; Marcus Reedy, director of surveys for David Evans and Associates (DEA); Fred Persi of Persi Consulting; David Hurwitz and Keith Williams and Halston Tuss of OSU; Anthony Squellat of DEA; and Mike Knodler of Innovative Data Inc.

The guidelines are performance-based and provide guidance on the data collection categories that are appropriate for transportation applications as well as general recommendations concerning the critical issue of data management. “The intent is to place the responsibility for quality management on the geomatics professional in charge and to increase the longevity of the guidelines by making them technology-agnostic,” Olsen said in making the announcement. “This also provides flexibility for the inevitable improvements in the technology, which in some cases are currently being pushed to the limit, while at the same time establishing a direct link between proper field procedures, documentation, deliverables and the intended end use of the data.”