With the help of a drone-mounted LiDAR scan, archaeologists were able to create a rough topographical map of two mountain-bound cities in Uzbekistan, named Tashbulak and Tugunbulak.

If LiDAR allows "only" a 3D-surface-scan, then I'm surprised of the low 2.5 cm resolution: Distance measurements with laser are far more precise.

The profile area in below shows a photogrammetry pointcloud in blue while the LiDAR scan is given in red. In this instance, only the points classified as “Ground” are shown to highlight the different ...

ZOMORODI: LiDAR stands for Light Detection and Ranging. It's the sensing technology that self-driving cars use to scan and make maps of the terrain around them.