A light detection and ranging, LIDAR, system, comprising: a laser source configured to generate an optical signal; a modulator configured to modulate at least one of a frequency or a phase of the optical signal; one or more scanning optics configured to transmit the modulated optical signal (126; 205); and a processing circuit (802; 903) configured to: operate the one or more scanning optics, using a coarse first angular resolution, to obtain a plurality of first range measurements (R(α,ε)) in a field of view (501; 511) of the one or more scanning optics; assign a fine second angular resolution to a particular range gate (RGn) of a plurality of range gates (RG1-RG6) using a target spatial resolution (s) and one or more first range measurements corresponding to the particular range gate (RGn) of the plurality of range gates, wherein each range gate is defined by a different, non-overlapping interval given by a different, non-overlapping near range (Rnear n) and far range (Rfar n), wherein assigning the fine second angular resolution further comprises using a characteristic range (Rfar n; Rmid n) for defining the target spatial resolution (s) in the particular range gate of the plurality of range gates; operate the one or more scanning optics, using the respective fine second angular resolution assigned to each of the plurality of range gates, to obtain a plurality of second range measurements; and control a vehicle using the plurality of second range measurements. a laser source configured to generate an optical signal; a modulator configured to modulate at least one of a frequency or a phase of the optical signal; one or more scanning optics configured to transmit the modulated optical signal (126; 205); and a processing circuit (802; 903) configured to: operate the one or more scanning optics, using a coarse first angular resolution, to obtain a plurality of first range measurements (R(α,ε)) in a field of view (501; 511) of the one or more scanning optics; assign a fine second angular resolution to a particular range gate (RGn) of a plurality of range gates (RG1-RG6) using a target spatial resolution (s) and one or more first range measurements corresponding to the particular range gate (RGn) of the plurality of range gates, operate the one or more scanning optics, using a coarse first angular resolution, to obtain a plurality of first range measurements (R(α,ε)) in a field of view (501; 511) of the one or more scanning optics; assign a fine second angular resolution to a particular range gate (RGn) of a plurality of range gates (RG1-RG6) using a target spatial resolution (s) and one or more first range measurements corresponding to the particular range gate (RGn) of the plurality of range gates, wherein each range gate is defined by a different, non-overlapping interval given by a different, non-overlapping near range (Rnear n) and far range (Rfar n), wherein assigning the fine second angular resolution further comprises using a characteristic range (Rfar n; Rmid n) for defining the target spatial resolution (s) in the particular range gate of the plurality of range gates; operate the one or more scanning optics, using the respective fine second angular resolution assigned to each of the plurality of range gates, to obtain a plurality of second range measurements; and control a vehicle using the plurality of second range measurements. operate the one or more scanning optics, using the respective fine second angular resolution assigned to each of the plurality of range gates, to obtain a plurality of second range measurements; and control a vehicle using the plurality of second range measurements.