A PRIMARY TEST RESULTS OF A HANDHELD MOBILE LASER SCANNER IN EXTRACTION OF TREE PARAMETERS

Abstract

Sustainable forest planning and management require accurate and precise information about the estimation of forest resources. In particular, two tree parameters are very important among the others: diameter-at-breast height (DBH) and height that are used to estimate the volume and biomass of the tree. With the development of Remote Sensing (RS), information about the tree parameters can be acquired in more accurately and precisely with laser scanning technology. In this study, a Handheld Mobile Laser Scanner (HMLS), called TORCH, was tested for extracting tree parameters with 3D Forest software. The TORCH uses the SLAM (Simultaneous Localization and Mapping) algorithm to locate the scanner in an unknown environment and register the obtained 3D point clouds. Estimated DBH and height parameters from HMLS data extracted using 3D Forest software were compared with the field measurements (i.e., reference data). The preliminary results of the study showed that estimated DBH from HMLS data were relatively higher than ground measurement, while estimated height from point clouds data was slightly lower than the reference data. The continuous improvement in mobile laser scanners will improve the success of the devices while acquiring 3D structural information of tree parameters and reducing the cost and time spent in forest inventory.