Application areas for LiDAR can be divided in three main categories (1) Competing-where LiDAR is competing with existing topographic data collection methods; (2) Complementing- where LiDAR is complementing the existing topographic data collection methods and (3) New applications- where LiDAR data are finding applications in those areas which were not possible hitherto with the conventional data collection methods.
The following is a brief list of the areas where LiDAR data are being applied: