Assessing the effectiveness of LiDAR-based apps on Apple devices to survey indoor and outdoor medium sized areas

Abstract. In 2020, Apple started to include a LiDAR (Light Detection And Ranging) sensor on its high-end mobile devices. Since the introduction of the sensor, a large number of apps exploiting it have populated the iOS App Store. Therefore, Apple devices with a LiDAR sensor have seen increasing applications for efficient, low-cost spatial analysis and 3D modeling of small objects, rooms, and small areas. In this context, it becomes interesting to understand the potential of this sensor exploited by existing apps for surveying not only small areas, but also medium-sized indoor and outdoor areas. The study here presented evaluates the effectiveness of five iOS LiDAR-based apps for surveying medium-sized indoor and outdoor environments using Apple devices. The research used two test areas—a university building corridor (indoor) and a narrow urban street (outdoor)—to examine the performance of each app against a reference dataset from a Terrestrial Laser Scanner (TLS). The study explores each app’s capabilities, considering settings, point cloud density, accuracy, and usability across two survey path strategies: a closed loop and a zigzag. Results highlight that while mobile LiDAR apps on Apple devices facilitate low-cost, fast, accessible surveys, they exhibit in some areas errors on the order of 10 centimeters, while in others, on the order of 1 centimeter. The final result was very much influenced by how the raw data was handled by the apps, and it was noted that for medium-sized areas (both indoor and outdoor) the apps that produced better results were the ones benefitting from loop-closure to reduce trajectory drift. Based on the results, this approach could support urban management, road assessments, and other applications where rapid data capture is required and medium accuracy is sufficient.