WiSAR3D - Aerial LiDAR dataset for 3D object detection

Wilderness Search and Rescue (WiSAR) operations aim to locate and rescue individuals in remote, rugged environments. We introduce WiSAR3D, the first aerial LiDAR 3D dataset specifically tailored for 3D object detection in rural scenes. WiSAR3D comprises 2633 strips—contiguous point clouds collected along the flight path, all fully annotated with 67.5K 3D bounding boxes for 22 categories. As the data is captured with multiple returns (echoes), it enables detection under foliage, which is impossible with RGB cameras. Additionally, as this is the first-of-its-kind dataset, we provide benchmark evaluations for state-of-the-art methods developed for autonomous cars on our aerial dataset. The results suggest that specialized models are needed in this domain, as finding individuals remains challenging for current 3D detectors. The code and dataset are publicly available at https://github.com/oshrout/WiSAR3D.