Geologic Publications for Mount Rainier

LiDAR accuracy on North American mountain summits

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Author(s): Eric Gilbertson, Richard Hensley, Andrew Kirmse, Kyle Bretherton, Kathryn E. Stanchak

Category: PUBLICATION
Document Type:
Publisher: Progress in Physical Geography: Earth and Environment
Published Year: 2026
Volume: 50
Number: 3
Pages: 476 to 493
DOI Identifier: 10.1177/03091333251401361
ISBN Identifier:
Keywords: LiDAR GPS GNSS digital elevation model mountains summits

Abstract:
Mountainous terrain is increasingly being measured and mapped by airplane-based LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) techniques, but the accuracy of these measurements in such topographically variable terrain is not well understood. For this study, we measured 179 mountain summits with differential GNSS static surveys and compared summit elevation and location measurements to those measured by LiDAR in point cloud data sets. We measured summits in 13 US states (Washington, Idaho, Montana, Utah, California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Michigan, Wisconsin, Kentucky, Colorado, and Pennsylvania) and two Canadian provinces (British Columbia and Nova Scotia). Summits included icecapped peaks, open rocky peaks, and tree-covered peaks ranging in elevation from 490 m to over 4000 m. LiDAR-point-cloud-derived summit elevations and locations were computed using four different methods: manual processing, highest ground return, highest return, and Lastools reclassification. The average one-sigma LiDAR vertical errors for each method were 0.50 m, 1.09 m, 9.83 m, and 1.96 m, respectively. Average one-sigma horizontal errors were 3.03 m, 2.41 m, 5.17 m, and 3.78 m, respectively. Errors are also presented separately for each type of summit. Error sources include sharp summits being unsampled, dense vegetation misclassified as ground, human-created structures misclassified as ground, snow/ice that can melt over time, and summit erosion over time.

View Report:
View Report [External Link]

Suggested Citations:
In Text Citation:
Gilbertson and others (2026) or (Gilbertson et al., 2026)

References Citation:
Gilbertson, E., R. Hensley, A. Kirmse, K. Bretherton, and K.E. Stanchak, 2026, LiDAR accuracy on North American mountain summits: Progress in Physical Geography: Earth and Environment, Vol. 50, No. 3, pp. 476-493, doi: 10.1177/03091333251401361.