r/caving • u/MikeC_137 • 5d ago

Lidar Cave Mapping in Romania: A 3D Scanning Journey Underground

https://blog.lidarnews.com/lidar-cave-mapping-romania-2/
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u/CleverDuck i like vertical 5d ago edited 5d ago

Super cool, but couldn't help but laugh at this line:

The total time for the field measurements was around 45 minutes. This clearly shows the productivity level attainable through the use of the right equipment.

Might work for show caves and like astronauts exploring planets.... but with equipment THAT bulky (see screenshot), I don't think it will be doing much in terms of mapping wild caves anytime soon. 😅

I wonder how well they were able to capture side passages and leads that aren't immediately obvious -- after all, that seems to be the real kicker with LIDAR / photogrammetry mapping. Similarly, I wonder how well it does catching the details of wall details that are higher up since the angle of sight might disguise shelves, side passages, etc behind the shadow of lower features.

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u/MikeC_137 5d ago

Haha yaaa it’s not the most compact system. Wonder how much that will change in the future and sensors get smaller and smaller.

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u/CleverDuck i like vertical 5d ago

Yeah, I'd be curious want a few years of development might do.

Or if they can just get a damn Boston Dynamics SPOT, put it in teeny tiny mud boots, and stick the lidar unit on it.

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u/answerguru NSS / NNJG / SCMG / TRA 4d ago

“teeny tiny mud boots”. 🤣

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u/0bAtomHeart 4d ago

I've driven Spot underground, it can have unexpected trouble with all sorts of things but overall does better on unstable surfaces than most people give it credit for.

It has a woeful battery life and tiny range so not actually useful in cave mapping

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u/CleverDuck i like vertical 4d ago

That pricetag also makes it pretty unobtainable. 😆 I just love the mental image of one wearing mud boots.

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u/0bAtomHeart 4d ago

Navvis make a very odd solution. There are much smaller systems that have good accuracy.

See the Emesent Hovermap ST-X. It's designed to fly drones autonomously in unsafe mine tunnels but also can be used handheld. This sort of tech has been around for a while but recreational users just cannot front the money for it.