Measurement and Verification of Selected Peaks in the “New Crown of Polish Mountains” for Investigating the Accuracy of LiDAR Point Clouds

Abstract

The Crown of Polish Mountains is a list of mountain peaks that has long attracted significant interest, with all included summits being considered worthy conquering. The proposal to expand this list with additional peaks, termed the “New Crown of Polish Mountains” by historian Krzysztof Bzowski, served as the impetus for a study of examining the accuracy of LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) point clouds in the areas of the newly proposed peaks. The primary data source analyzed in this study is the LiDAR point cloud with a density of 4 points per square meter, obtained from the ISOK project. As a secondary LiDAR data source, a self-generated point cloud was utilized, created by using the integrated LiDAR sensor in the iPhone 13 Pro and the free 3dScannerApp mobile application within terrestrial scanning. These datasets were compared against RTK GNSS measurements obtained with a Leica GS16 receiver and mobile measurements conducted using Android smartphones. In addition to analyzing the raw point clouds, the study also involved the visualization of the analyzed areas by the creation of Digital Terrain Models in two software programs: ArcGIS Pro and QGIS Desktop. The research confirmed the known accuracy of ALS point clouds and revealed that the integrated LiDAR sensor in the iPhone 13 Pro demonstrates surprising accuracy. The potential for laser scanning with a smartphone, combined with the capability of conducting mobile GNSS measurements, could revolutionize geodetic surveying and simplify the acquisition of point cloud data.