Mobile 3D scan LiDAR: a literature review

This paper, by critically reviewing different years (from 2010 to 2020) of research activities performed with Mobile Laser Scanning system, aims to review existing systems and how they are exploited in multifaceted domains. To such extent, the work defines five field domains where Mobile Laser Scanning have been used: Built and urban environment, Cultural heritage and Archaeology, Underground environment, Environmental monitoring, Forestry and Agriculture. Besides, this paper sheds the light on the pros and cons for each domain field, providing useful guidelines for those researchers involved in three-dimensional data collection with innovative systems. To achieve these purposes, research papers, were analysed, mainly considering geosciences related journals. The comparison among them revealed that, despite the incredible potential of Mobile Mapping System, the human intervention is still mandatory, and post-processing actions are needed to achieve the desired results, regardless the domain field. Moreover, our study provides insight into the technical and methodological limitations that raise a general scepticism on Mobile Mapping System for three-dimensional surveying, highlighting that in most of cases supplementary data are required to make the final result trustworthy. Such obstacles, hampering Mobile Laser Scanning diffusion, point towards unexplored areas for further investigations, serving as useful guidelines for future research directions.