LIDAR means LIght Detection And ranging
Lidar is a technology that determines the distance to an object through the use of laser pulses (that is why Lidar is also written out as laser Imaging Detection And ranging). The technology resembles the radar technology, radar uses radio waves, and Lidar uses light. The distance is determined by measuring the time elapsed between the transmitting of the pulse and the capture of the reflection of this. With Lidar, many smaller objects can be detected than with radar: the wavelength of radio waves is around 1 cm, which is of laser light between 10 µm and 250 nm. There are several Lidar devices but they all have the same output: a dots cloud where each point has an X, a Y and a Z. A normal photo can be placed on those points, giving you a 3d image. Military applications also use the term LADAR: LAser Detection and Ranging [YouTube] EYbhNSUnIdU [/youtube]