ACCURACY ASSESSMENT OF LIDAR BASED DTM AND GROUND SURVEY BASED DTM, CASE STUDY OF FEDERAL SCHOOL OF SURVEYING OYO, OYO STATE.

This Project, titled “Accuracy Assessment of LiDAR-Based DTM and Ground Survey-Based DTM Method, of the Federal School of Surveying Oyo, Oyo State,” provides a comparative evaluation of Digital Terrain Models (DTMs) generated from Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data and those produced through conventional ground surveying techniques. The primary objective is to examine the accuracy of LiDAR-derived DTMs in comparison with ground survey results and to determine the effectiveness of both methods for terrain mapping and modeling. Data acquisition where made for both LiDAR and Ground survey method using (RTK-GNSS) Real Time Kinematic Global Positioning Satellite System because it has been the standard approach for collecting elevation data due to their high precision and UAV( Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) for LiDAR data acquisition, ground control point where establish for flight planning, LiDAR, as a remote sensing technology, can rapidly acquire millions of elevation points over extensive areas, offering high-resolution surface information within a short time. In this research, LiDAR data were processed to generate a DTM of the study site, while RTK-GNSS measurements were used as reference control points for validation. Accuracy evaluation was conducted through Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) analysis to compare the LiDAR-based DTM with the ground survey-derived DTM. Findings indicated that the Ground Survey generated DTM produced accuracy levels comparable to the LiDAR-based model, though slight discrepancies were observed in regions with thick vegetation and irregular terrain. The study concludes that LiDAR provides a fast, efficient, and dependable solution for large-area topographic mapping, while ground surveying remains indispensable for small- scale and highly precise applications.