A lot of the cost of doing LIDAR surveys isn't just the LIDAR sensor itself. eg, a typical high-quality survey will involve: - Something like a Leica ALS80 [1

A lot of the cost of doing LIDAR surveys isn't just the LIDAR sensor itself. eg, a typical high-quality survey will involve: - Something like a Leica ALS80 [1] - A Cessna + good Pilot, the plane needs to be really well instrumented. - A team of surveyors on the ground to establish ground controls, and occupy points for GPS RTK calculations - A bunch of post-processing to normalize the data, remove birdies and pits, do ground classifications, etc. (The raw data from the sensor before the processed point cloud is built is really really raw.) A much cheaper approach which seems to be catching on is UAV photogrammetry. It's processing intensive, but no special sensors are required, and in the end you still get a pointcloud. Sensefly is a company that makes these types of UAVs. [1] https://leica-geosystems.com/en-us/products/airborne-systems/lidar-sensors/leica-als80-airborne-laser-scanner https://leica-geosystems.com/en-us/products/airborne-systems...