A land surveyor reports seeing vertical accuracy discrepancies of 0.2 to 0.4 feet when using the DJI Zenmuse L3 and Matrice 400 for wooded topography compared to GPS control.

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    "summary": "A land surveyor reports seeing vertical accuracy discrepancies of 0.2 to 0.4 feet when using the DJI Zenmuse L3 and Matrice 400 for wooded topography compared to GPS control.",
    "category": "reliability",
    "comments": [
      {
        "url": "https://www.reddit.com/r/UAVmapping/comments/1x1veyw/comment/pex5p65/",
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        "author": "Interesting_Dirt_489",
        "excerpt": "We just flew the M400/L3 for the first time today. Will report back when we get results in about a week and half.\n\n But 0.2 to 0.4 vertical difference sounds to me like the difference between the top of leaf litter and the point of a pointy rod stuck in the ground.",
        "posted_at": "2026-10-09T20:25:16.000Z",
        "author_url": "https://www.reddit.com/user/Interesting_Dirt_489/"
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        "author": "Advanced-Painter5868",
        "excerpt": "2 to 4 tenths of a foot is about the thickness of the point cloud from lack of precision with some of the lower shelf sensors. IOW, on a hard surface, which has no thickness, points will be created slightly above that and slightly below. When ground is classified, most algorithms choose the lowest point in that fuzzy thickness. Therefore sn adjustment to control points must be done, the so called",
        "posted_at": "2026-10-09T20:38:50.000Z",
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        "author": "m1ndcrash",
        "excerpt": "Fly higher overlap than the minimal as well.",
        "posted_at": "2026-10-09T20:51:24.000Z",
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        "url": "https://www.reddit.com/r/UAVmapping/comments/1x1veyw/comment/peyb7ub/",
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        "author": "CMDR-Neovoe",
        "excerpt": "M300/L2 here. We typically see +/-5 mm when compared to gps or total station",
        "posted_at": "2026-10-09T23:53:28.000Z",
        "author_url": "https://www.reddit.com/user/CMDR-Neovoe/"
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        "url": "https://www.reddit.com/r/UAVmapping/comments/1x1veyw/comment/pf83473/",
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        "author": "SpatiallyHere",
        "excerpt": "This is a loaded question. Lidar is a \"shit in, shit out\" tool. Generally the lidar is talking to a base station. So, out of the gate, you could see 0.50' of error. Is the surveyor further adjusting to targets? How were they set? What's the speed and height of the flight? Lidar is as good as the control and the mission of the flight.",
        "posted_at": "2026-10-11T11:40:26.000Z",
        "author_url": "https://www.reddit.com/user/SpatiallyHere/"
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        "url": "https://www.reddit.com/r/UAVmapping/comments/1x1veyw/comment/peyb309/",
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        "author": "PizzaLava",
        "excerpt": "We regularly achieve 0.05’ and 0.10’ vertical accuracy RMSEz on hard paved surfaces. IF800 with Riegl miniVUX-3UAV. Make sure your control points are on flat, open surfaces and make sure you distribute checkpoints evenly throughout your survey limits on both vegetated and non vegetated areas. Hope this helps.",
        "posted_at": "2026-10-09T23:52:41.000Z",
        "author_url": "https://www.reddit.com/user/PizzaLava/"
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        "author": "Temporary_Will_5479",
        "excerpt": "The useful next step is a signed residual table, not just the GCP RMSE. Ask the processor for z_lidar minus z_checkpoint at independent points, with the surface type and location for each. Keep points used to adjust the cloud separate from points used to test it.\n\n Then split the results into open hard surfaces and vegetation. A similar offset on open surfaces across the site points toward a datum",
        "posted_at": "2026-10-11T02:27:52.000Z",
        "author_url": "https://www.reddit.com/user/Temporary_Will_5479/"
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    "evidence": [
      "[post] Looking for input from those using LIDAR for their workflows especially if using a DJI L3 Zenmuse & DJI Matrice 400 for wooded topography.",
      "[post] When checking Lidar shots with GPS getting Fill’s between 0.2-0.4 fairly consistently. Is this just what we can expect with Lidar?"
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    "post_date": "2026-10-09T20:01:19.000Z",
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    "post_text": "Land Surveyors using LIDAR for engineering topo’s, what vertical accuracy are you achieving in comparison to more traditional methods such as a total station or GPS?\n\nLooking for input from those using LIDAR for their workflows especially if using a DJI L3 Zenmuse & DJI Matrice 400 for wooded topography.\n\nWhen checking Lidar shots with GPS getting Fill’s between 0.2-0.4 fairly consistently. Is this just what we can expect with Lidar?\n\nI was reading that Linear scanning pattern is more vertically accurate than star-shaped pattern. Is this what could be causing the error?\n\nAny input on this would be much appreciated! Thanks!",
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    "event_date": "2026-10",
    "post_title": "Vertical Accuracy Lidar",
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