In this paper we provide a description of airborne mapping LiDAR, also known as airborne laser scanning (ALS), technology and its workflow from mission planning to final data product generation, with a specific emphasis on archaeological research. ALS observations are highly customizable, and can be tailored to meet specific research needs. Thus it is important for an archaeologist to fully understand the options available during planning, collection and data product generation before commissioning an ALS survey, to ensure the intended research questions can be answered with the resultant data products. Also this knowledge is of great use for the researcher trying to understand the quality and limitations of existing datasets collected for other purposes. Throughout the paper we use examples from archeological ALS projects to illustrate the key concepts of importance for the archaeology researcher.

In this paper we present a description of a new multispectral airborne mapping light detection and ranging (lidar) along with performance results obtained from two years of data collection and test campaigns. The Titan multiwave lidar is manufactured by Teledyne Optech Inc. (Toronto, ON, Canada) and emits laser pulses in the 1550, 1064 and 532 nm wavelengths simultaneously through a single oscillating mirror scanner at pulse repetition frequencies (PRF) that range from 50 to 300 kHz per wavelength (max combined PRF of 900 kHz). The Titan system can perform simultaneous mapping in terrestrial and very shallow water environments and its multispectral capability enables new applications, such as the production of false color active imagery derived from the lidar return intensities and the automated classification of target and land covers. Field tests and mapping projects performed over the past two years demonstrate capabilities to classify five land covers in urban environments with an accuracy of 90%, map bathymetry under more than 15 m of water, and map thick vegetation canopies at sub-meter vertical resolutions. In addition to its multispectral and performance characteristics, the Titan system is designed with several redundancies and diversity schemes that have proven to be beneficial for both operations and the improvement of data quality.