LiDAR is a consolidated technology for topographic mapping and 3D reconstruction, which is implemented in several platforms On the other hand, the exploitation of the geometric information has been coupled by the use of laser intensity, which may provide additional data for multiple purposes. This option has been emphasized by the availability of sensors working on different wavelength, thus able to provide additional information for classification of surfaces and objects. Several applications of monochromatic and multi-spectral LiDAR data have been already developed in different fields: geosciences, agriculture, forestry, building and cultural heritage. The use of intensity data to extract measures of point cloud quality has been also developed. Our review would like to give an overview on the state-of-the-art of these techniques, and to present the modern technologies for the acquisition of multispectral LiDAR data. In addition, the ISPRS WG III/5 on ‘Information Extraction from LiDAR Intensity Data’ has collected and made available a few open data sets to support scholars to do research on this field. This service is presented and data sets delivered so far as are described in our most recent paper:
Scaioni, M., Höfle, B., Baungarten Kersting, A.P., Barazzetti, L., Previtali, M. & Wujanz, D. (2018): Methods from Information Extraction from LiDAR Intensity Data and Multispectral LiDAR Technology. ISPRS – International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences. Vol. XLII-3, pp. 1503-1510.
New insights into LiDAR intensity has more than 10 years of research record in the 3DGeo group. Leading papers include:
Eitel, J.U., Höfle, B., Vierling, L.A., Abellán, A., Asner, G.P., Deems, J.S., Glennie, C.L., Joerg, P.C., LeWinter, A.L., Magney, T.S., Mandlburger, G., Morton, D.C., Müller, J. & Vierling, K.T. (2016): Beyond 3-D: The New Spectrum of LiDAR Applications for Earth and Ecological Sciences. Remote Sensing of Environment. Vol. 186, pp. 372-392.
Malinowski, R., Höfle, B., Koenig, K., Groom, G., Schwanghart, W. & Heckrath, G. (2016): Local-scale flood mapping on vegetated floodplains from radiometrically calibrated airborne LiDAR data. ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing. Vol. 119, pp. 267-279.
Höfle, B. (2014): Radiometric Correction of Terrestrial LiDAR Point Cloud Data for Individual Maize Plant Detection. IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Letters. Vol. 11 (1), pp. 94-98.
Höfle, B., Vetter, M., Pfeifer, N., Mandlburger, G. & Stötter, J. (2009): Water surface mapping from airborne laser scanning using signal intensity and elevation data. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms. Vol. 34 (12), pp. 1635-1649.
Höfle, B. & Pfeifer, N. (2007): Correction of laser scanning intensity data: Data and model-driven approaches. ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing. Vol. 62 (6), pp. 415-433.
