A study on the need for LiDAR training in academia and industry

A questionnaire was sent out to over 400 members of the international academic LiDAR research community and service industry and a LiDAR research and training workshop was hosted in Halifax earlier this year. The purpose of both the questionnaire and the workshop was to ascertain priority LiDAR research topics and applications, and better understand the status of, and needs for LiDAR training. Although many of the results demonstrate similar trends within all parts of the LiDAR community, there appear to be some clear stratifications in terms of training priorities between the academic and industrial communities. For example, preliminary results indicated that 'data manipulation' and 'end user applications' were the priority topics in the academic LiDAR community with nearly 30% of that communities' vote. However, in the LiDAR industry community, the training priorities were found to be related to more technical and operational topics such as 'technological principles', and 'mission planning and project management'. The paper explores more stratifications relating to student, researcher and practitioner perceptions within the LiDAR community. The results of this study are being used by the Applied Geomatics Research Group to develop LiDAR training curriculum, which focuses on 'hands-on' research project-based learning for students wishing to pursue either academic or vocational careers.

A study on the need for LiDAR training in academia and industry Conference Paper