Patent ID: 8855967

Claim:
A surface measurement apparatus, comprising: at least one sensor for measuring a distance between the at least one sensor and a point on a surface over which the surface measurement apparatus is configured to travel; a reference point, the reference point having a pre-determined relative position difference on the surface measurement apparatus from the at least one sensor; a receiver for receiving data related to at least one of a position of the reference point measured by a position measurement station having pre-determined real world coordinates or a calculated distance between the reference point and the position measurement station; and a processor for calculating an absolute position of the point on the surface based on (a) the measured distance between the at least one sensor and the point, (b) the pre-determined relative position difference between the reference point and the at least one sensor, and (c) the at least one of the position of the reference point of the surface measurement apparatus or the calculated distance between the position measurement station and the reference point of the surface measurement apparatus.