Chapter 7: Applications, Ancillary Systems, and Fusion
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Abstract
The number of applications for ALB data has grown exponentially since the first systems became operational in the late 1980's and early 1990's. In those early days, the primary application was nautical charting. Since then, as more systems were developed and fielded, and users gained access to the unique datasets provided by these systems, uses have expanded into a wide variety of coastal engineering and coastal zone management applications. Many of these applications take advantage of the regional-scale, reoccurring elevation and depth data provided by ALB systems. Others utilize semi-automated and automated techniques to extract features from the lidar elevation data, or from lidar waveforms. Still others combine ALB data with ancillary aerial photography or hyperspectral imagery using data fusion at various levels in the processing change to create new data products that further extend the utility of these datasets. This chapter briefly highlights a number of applications for ALB data that have evolved over the past 25 year of ALB operations: nautical charting, navigation project monitoring, regional sediment management, post-storm response, geomorphological feature extraction, and environmental mapping. It is not exhaustive, but gives an overview of the breadth of operational applications for ALB. The chapter closes with a look into future applications.