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LIDAR for Automated Forest Measurement
Hans-Erik Andersen
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LIDAR data of Doug-fir stand on variable terrain
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There are currently several projects relating to extraction
of forest information from airborne laser scanner (LIDAR)
data in progress. These projects are supported by the
Precision Forestry Cooperative at the University of
Washington College of Forest Resources, the USDA Forest
Service Pacific Northwest Research Station, and the
forestry department at Fort Lewis Military Reservation,
WA.
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Information relating to forest structural characteristics
is important for a variety of forest management objectives,
including timber inventory, forest health monitoring,
wildlife habitat preservation, and watershed protection.
The focus of this research is to investigate
relationships between the distribution and pattern of
LIDAR measurements and the spatial structure, in both
horizontal and vertical dimensions, of forest canopy
components.
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LIDAR data of mature red alder, young
Douglas-fir, and emergent Douglas-fir |
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A variety of spatial statistical techniques and high-level
machine vision approaches are being employed to carry
out inference on the location and distribution of forest
canopy components. Parameters of interest include the
location and dimensions of individual trees within the
canopy, as well as coverage in various vertical layers
of the canopy.
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3-D Morphological analysis of a canopy surface model
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Three-dimensional mathematical morphology, a machine
vision technique, was used to extract measurements of
individual tree location and height from a high-resolution
LIDAR-based canopy surface model. This approach was
largely successful, with accuracy rates above 80 percent
for detection of individual tree crowns in the canopy.
It is expected that this approach could be used to develop
spatially explicit inventory databases in the support
of forest operations and management.
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Individual tree stem measurements obtained from morphological analysis of LIDAR based canopy surface model within 1 acre area of Capitol State Forest, WA |
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