Bioscan

A bioscan is a technique used by species especially, aliens to analyse the environment of foreign planets along with analysing the species on the planet however, smaller scale bioscans can be used to scan smaller areas of planets for information on the local species in the area.

Uses
It is normally used when aliens are in search of new hospitable planets to colonise, invade or otherwise, deal with along with checking the environment of a planet which one has crash landed on in order to survey for danger or other bad signs such as hostile natives.

Additionally, it can be used to keep track of a hostile being in a local area on a planet which one already knows of and wishes to avoid so, may use the bioscan to find a way to get away from them without coming too close to them to ascertain where they are or simply accidentally due to not knowing their actual position.

Restrictions
The energy that is needed to perform a bioscan tends to depend on the size of the area that one is scanning and so, scanning large areas tends to drain energy much faster than, scanning smaller area which can be a rather dangerous setback when one has limited energy as opposed to a bountiful supply where they can afford to use alot of it.