Advantages

Speed and Coverage

• Single LiDAR flight can survey thousands of kilometres in hours

Vegetation penetration

• No other remote sensing technology can see through canopy

• Has opened up tropical regions for survey

• This is done via full waveform LiDAR that records echo widths that can indicate if a uniform, solid surface or wide one with multiple objects/distances (such as low vegetation, ferns, flowers, etc) has been hit by the pulse

Non-destructive

• Leaves ground undisturbed

Precision

• Point cloud data is objective and can be reanalysed as interpretive methods improve

Integration

• Works well with GIS, geophysical survey , satellite imagery ect to build richer models with different data types

Integrative platfom

• Chase et al (2012)

• LiDAR serves as a spatial canvas on which data from other analytical approaches can be displayed and combined.

• The likes of stable isotope data on diet and status, strontium analysis of population origins and migration, epigraphic records can be enriched by LiDAR data

Landscape record

• Chae et al (2012)

•  Records the landscape as it exists at one point in time

• This also documents the current state of preservation, looting, deforestation,

• Thus can provide spatial data for planning decisions about where to place facilities without damaging culturally protected areas