Mobile LiDAR vs terrestrial laser scanning for mining
A terrestrial scanner stands on a tripod and measures where it is set up, to survey-grade. A mobile scanner is carried, driven or flown and measures wherever it goes, positioning itself as it moves.
The trade is accuracy against coverage, and the right answer for a mine is almost never one or the other.
Mobile or terrestrial LiDAR for a mine?
Terrestrial for surfaces whose figures are signed off or invoiced, at 1.9 mm at 10 m; mobile for coverage of headings, roads and voids at ±10–15 mm; run both.
How they compare
The criteria are the ones that decide which scanner a survey crew picks up in the morning.
| Terrestrial (Artec Ray II)Tripod-mounted; stationary while recording. | Mobile SLAM (Artec Jet)Carried, worn, driven or flown; positions itself by SLAM. | |
|---|---|---|
| How it measures | From one known position per station | Continuously, from a trajectory it computes as it moves |
| Accuracy | 1.9 mm at 10 m, 2.9 mm at 20 m, 5.3 mm at 40 m; 0.4 mm range noise | ±10 mm underground, ±15 mm on surface; ±0.03% drift; ±5 mm change detection |
| Time for a heading or a wall | Under two minutes per station; a wall in two or three; a heading in several set-ups | A heading at walking pace; a road at driving speed; a stope in one flight |
| Where it can go | Wherever a tripod stands with line of sight, out to 130 m | Anywhere it can be carried, driven, lowered or flown — including into voids |
| Set-up and operator | Level, start, move; processing registers the stations | None: start and go; control resets drift where it is passed |
| Best at | Walls, stockpiles, dumps, plant, machines — anything invoiced or signed off | Headings, declines, roads, stopes, shafts, old workings — coverage and access |
| Choose this when | Choose this where the figure has to be survey-grade and the surface can be seen from a tripod. | Choose this for the mine as a whole: everything that has to be surveyed on the move or from inside. |
The recommendation is for the mine, not the job: a mine needs the mobile scanner everywhere and the terrestrial one where the figure is paid for. On a single invoiced stockpile, the terrestrial scanner wins.
Why the trade is coverage against the last millimetre
A tripod scanner knows exactly where it is, because it does not move: every point is measured from one position, and the accuracy is the instrument’s — 1.9 mm at 10 m for Artec Ray II, with 0.4 mm range noise, which is what makes a clean mesh of a wall and a defensible volume of a stockpile. The price is that it measures only what it can see from where it stands, and moving it costs a set-up. A heading is several set-ups; a stope is not possible at all.
A mobile scanner trades the last millimetre for the rest of the mine. Artec Jet positions itself by SLAM as it is carried, driven or flown, at ±0.03% drift, and records ±10 mm underground and ±15 mm on surface — enough for profile, advance, reconciliation and change detection, not enough to replace the tripod on an invoiced volume. What it buys is everything a tripod cannot do: a heading in a walk, a decline from the vehicle, a stope from a drone, a shaft from the cage. The two register into one model in Artec Twins, and the sensible mine runs both — the terrestrial scanner where the figure is paid for, the mobile scanner everywhere else.
The figures behind the verdict
See a wall from the tripod and the drive behind it from the walk, registered into one model on mine grid — book a demo for your survey manager.
Book a demoWhat people ask when choosing
Can we use both?
That is the recommendation. The mobile scanner covers the mine; the terrestrial scanner records the surfaces whose figures are invoiced or signed off; Artec Twins registers both into one model and exports it as LAS, LAZ or E57.
If we can afford only one, which?
Underground, the mobile scanner: it surveys headings at walking pace and enters stopes, which is where the exposure and the waiting are. On a surface or plant operation, the terrestrial scanner: its volumes and walls are the figures that carry money.
Is ±10 mm good enough for reconciliation?
For stope and heading reconciliation, profile against design and change detection at ±5 mm, yes. For a stockpile volume that is invoiced to a customer, the tripod’s 1.9 mm at 10 m is the figure to use.
Does the mobile scanner need GPS?
No. It positions by SLAM from the geometry around it, and ties to survey control where it passes a station; on surface Twins adds GNSS for georeferencing. That is what lets it work underground at all.
Other comparisons
Tell us what you are weighing up
Describe the jobs, underground and surface, and what the survey has to deliver for each. A mining specialist will come back with which scanner goes where, and what the combination would look like on your site.