Guest on 2D Is Against My Religion

Aden Zhang

Sales Director, Asia Pacific, XGRIDS

Aden Zhang leads sales for the Asia Pacific region at XGRIDS, has a survey background and joined XGRIDS four years before INTERGEO 2026 after working at Green Valley. Recorded live at INTERGEO 2026, Aden Zhang presented the XGRIDS L3 handheld SLAM scanner and explained why XGRIDS tells clients SLAM will never replace terrestrial scanning.

Episode

24 min

Expo & conference podcast

SLAM will never replace terrestrial scanning – Aden Zhang, XGRIDS

Aden Zhang · XGRIDS30 Oct 2026

In Aden’s words

“SLAM is never going to replace terrestrial. We know that in our bones.”

Listen at 11:43 · SLAM will never replace terrestrial scanning – Aden Zhang, XGRIDS

“Gaussian splatting is not for your cadastral survey.”

Listen at 10:30 · SLAM will never replace terrestrial scanning – Aden Zhang, XGRIDS

“People buy this thing, and they go and scan 80 minutes in with no overlap.”

Listen at 13:02 · SLAM will never replace terrestrial scanning – Aden Zhang, XGRIDS

“We realized that we've made a pretty big mistake there.”

Listen at 21:21 · SLAM will never replace terrestrial scanning – Aden Zhang, XGRIDS

“For us it's not about the megapixels anymore.”

Listen at 16:21 · SLAM will never replace terrestrial scanning – Aden Zhang, XGRIDS

Quoted in our tech guides

Gaussian splatting vs photogrammetry: what 18 practitioners say →

“Gaussian splatting is not for your cadastral survey.”▶ 10:30

SLAM vs terrestrial laser scanning: what 13 practitioners say →

“People buy this thing, and they go and scan 80 minutes in with no overlap.”▶ 13:02
“SLAM is never going to replace terrestrial. We know that in our bones.”▶ 11:43

Questions Aden answered

Will SLAM replace terrestrial laser scanning?: No, according to Aden Zhang of XGRIDS: systematic error makes it impossible, so XGRIDS positions SLAM as close as possible in a justified range, with terrestrial scanning for points of interest. ▶ 11:38
Should a beginner buy a SLAM scanner?: According to Aden Zhang, SLAM takes basic training: newcomers who scan 80 minutes without overlap or loop closures get poor accuracy, while experienced terrestrial users usually get it right. ▶ 13:02
Is Gaussian splatting accurate enough for surveying?: Not for cadastral survey, according to Aden Zhang; XGRIDS aims Gaussian splatting at reality capture, progress management, site documentation and multi-team collaboration. ▶ 10:05
What is the difference between 16 and 32 channel LiDAR?: According to Aden Zhang, the 32 channel version doubles the point density of the 16 channel one; the accuracy is basically the same. ▶ 18:38
Is XGRIDS LCC free?: Yes, according to Aden Zhang: LCC used to be paid and more closed, and XGRIDS has since opened the data formats and made it free. ▶ 21:21

Talks about

Michael Schoelkopf – Director, Product Management Reality Capture, NavVis
John Chwalibog – Director of Strategic Partnerships, Manifold Tech
Fan Yang – Chief Operating Officer and Director of International Business, Manifold Tech
Tobias Böhret – Product marketing, FARO INSIGHT
Dylan Gorman – Drone mapping, PilotByte Labs
Rami Tamimi – Geomatics project manager and Ph.D. candidate, WSP