Laser scanning is rapidly gaining acceptance and becoming more and more commonplace in the law enforcement and accident reconstruction communities. Over the past few years, hardware and software have improved significantly creating a simpler, overall system to capture immense detail in a short period of time.
These are 10, of the many, reasons to consider laser scanners for a forensic application:
1) Easy to use: Many manufacturers are moving toward a simpler interface making operation of the scanner more like a digital camera than a complicated survey instrument.
2) Portability: Laser scanners are smaller in size today than ever before making them easier to deploy to a crime/accident scene and useable by just about anyone.
3) Safety: Data can be collected from a distance, with some scanners collected measurements over 300 meters away. This allows the operator to scan a scene out of harms way. In addition, laser scanners can collect up to 1,000,000 points per second with average scan times of several minutes. Less time on a scene means less time for potential danger to the individuals at the scene. Class I lasers are also being used in laser scanners creating a truly eye-safe environment during the scan.
4) Speed and Efficiency: Complete color scans can be captured in as little as several minutes creating a virtual scene with high accuracy and detail that can be revisited over and over without physically traveling to the site. In contrast to traditional methods of surveying/documenting a scene, laser scanning can be much faster and allow multiple investigators to have eyes on the virtual scene.
5) Produce a variety of deliverables: Once the scene has been laser scanned, various types of final products can be extracted or produced from the data. For example, anything from a traditional 2D drawing to a detailed 3D animation can be created from the scan data.
6）同伴压力：越来越多的代理商使用激光扫描仪进行现场记录，结果得到了越来越广泛的接受。以及对未来场景将以3D格式记录的期望的增长。
7）具有成本效益：激光扫描仪的价格越来越高，可以与传统上用于记录交通事故的全站仪相媲美。
8）专门的测量工具：用于从3D数据进行取证分析的软件现在还包括用于测量血溅和子弹轨迹，证人/嫌疑犯身高等的专用工具。
9）易于共享：无需安装软件或购买其他许可证，即可使用更多软件工具查看和记录扫描数据。
10）存档场景：对场景进行激光扫描后，它基本上会及时冻结，并保存起来供将来希望对该场景进行调查的任何人进行虚拟访问。这允许进行在捕获时也不一定被认为重要的测量。