Assessing handheld mobile laser scanners for forest surveys

Abstract: A handheld mobile laser scanning (HMLS) approach to forest inventory surveying allows virtual reconstructions of forest stands and extraction of key structural parameters from beneath the canopy, significantly reducing survey time when compared against static laser scan and fieldwork metho...

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Main Authors: Ryding, Joseph, Williams, Emily, Smith, Martin J., Eichhorn, Markus P.
Format: Article
Published: MDPI 2015
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/34095/
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author Ryding, Joseph
Williams, Emily
Smith, Martin J.
Eichhorn, Markus P.
author_facet Ryding, Joseph
Williams, Emily
Smith, Martin J.
Eichhorn, Markus P.
author_sort Ryding, Joseph
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description Abstract: A handheld mobile laser scanning (HMLS) approach to forest inventory surveying allows virtual reconstructions of forest stands and extraction of key structural parameters from beneath the canopy, significantly reducing survey time when compared against static laser scan and fieldwork methods. A proof of concept test application demonstrated the ability of this technique to successfully extract diameter at breast height (DBH) and stem position compared against a concurrent terrestrial laser scan (TLS) survey. When stems with DBH > 10 cm are examined, an HMLS to TLS modelling success rate of 91% was achieved with the root mean square error (RMSE) of the DBH and stem position being 1.5 cm and 2.1 cm respectively. The HMLS approach gave a survey coverage time per surveyor of 50 m 2/min compared with 0.85 m2/min for the TLS instrument and 0.43 m2/min for the field study. This powerful tool has potential applications in forest surveying by providing much larger data sets at reduced operational costs to current survey methods. HMLS provides an efficient, cost effective, versatile forest surveying technique, which can be conducted as easily as walking through a plot, allowing much more detailed, spatially extensive survey data to be collected.
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spelling nottingham-340952020-05-04T17:00:40Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/34095/ Assessing handheld mobile laser scanners for forest surveys Ryding, Joseph Williams, Emily Smith, Martin J. Eichhorn, Markus P. Abstract: A handheld mobile laser scanning (HMLS) approach to forest inventory surveying allows virtual reconstructions of forest stands and extraction of key structural parameters from beneath the canopy, significantly reducing survey time when compared against static laser scan and fieldwork methods. A proof of concept test application demonstrated the ability of this technique to successfully extract diameter at breast height (DBH) and stem position compared against a concurrent terrestrial laser scan (TLS) survey. When stems with DBH > 10 cm are examined, an HMLS to TLS modelling success rate of 91% was achieved with the root mean square error (RMSE) of the DBH and stem position being 1.5 cm and 2.1 cm respectively. The HMLS approach gave a survey coverage time per surveyor of 50 m 2/min compared with 0.85 m2/min for the TLS instrument and 0.43 m2/min for the field study. This powerful tool has potential applications in forest surveying by providing much larger data sets at reduced operational costs to current survey methods. HMLS provides an efficient, cost effective, versatile forest surveying technique, which can be conducted as easily as walking through a plot, allowing much more detailed, spatially extensive survey data to be collected. MDPI 2015-01-19 Article PeerReviewed Ryding, Joseph, Williams, Emily, Smith, Martin J. and Eichhorn, Markus P. (2015) Assessing handheld mobile laser scanners for forest surveys. Remote Sensing, 7 (1). pp. 1095-1111. ISSN 2072-4292 http://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/7/1/1095 doi:10.3390/rs70101095 doi:10.3390/rs70101095
spellingShingle Ryding, Joseph
Williams, Emily
Smith, Martin J.
Eichhorn, Markus P.
Assessing handheld mobile laser scanners for forest surveys
title Assessing handheld mobile laser scanners for forest surveys
title_full Assessing handheld mobile laser scanners for forest surveys
title_fullStr Assessing handheld mobile laser scanners for forest surveys
title_full_unstemmed Assessing handheld mobile laser scanners for forest surveys
title_short Assessing handheld mobile laser scanners for forest surveys
title_sort assessing handheld mobile laser scanners for forest surveys
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/34095/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/34095/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/34095/