Terrestrial Laser Scanning: Can we see the wood for the treesTopographic laser ranging and scanning. Principles and processing. Taylor & Francis Group, London New York. Simonse, M.,

Terrestrial Laser Scanning:Can we see the wood for the trees

Kenneth OlofssonSLU

Swedish University of Agricultural SciencesDep of Forest Resource Management

Terrestrial laser scanning (TLS)

• A laser scanner placed in the area of interest scans 360º, resulting in a 3D point cloud

• Signal analysis techniques can be used to derive forestry parameters from the 3D point cloud


Why use TLS data?

Could make field inventory more efficient and reduce the risk of errors due to the human factor

An increased amount of information from the field survey

The positions of the tree stems can be derived for co-registration with airborne data


Forestry parameters extracted from TLS-data

Tree position

Stem diameter (dbh)

Stem profile

Tree height

Volume

Stem shapes

Branch structure

Leaf area index


Extract trees from TLS data


TLS results

Stem profile RMSE ~1 cm

Kenneth Olofsson and Johan HolmgrenSingle Tree Stem Profile Detection Using Terrestrial Laser Scanner Data, Flatness Saliency Features and Curvature PropertiesForests 2016, 7(9), 207; doi:10.3390/f7090207


Single/multiple scan setup

A: Single scan

Pro:Short scanning time, Easy to use

Con: Shading of trees

B: Multiple scan

Pro: High point density, Small amount of shading

Con: Accurate co-registration necessary. Scanning time is long


Simulated TLS field plot


Examples of shading of stems in TLS field plots

The whole stem is visible

At least half of the stem is visible

At least a small part of the stem is visible

The center of the stem is visible

The left edge of the stem is visible

The right edge of the stem is visible

The stem is shaded


Shaded area in TLS plots


Shaded area in TLS plots


Estimating stems/ha


Estimating stems/ha


Estimating stems/ha


Estimating stems/ha


Stem diameter distributions


Stem diameter distributions


Gaussian stem diameter distribution


Clustered positions of the trees, Gaussian stem diameter distribution


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References 2Erikson, M. and Vestlund, K. 2003. Finding tree stems in laser range images of young mixed

stands to perform selective cleaning. Scandlaser 2003, Umeå Sweden.

Forsman, P. and Halme , A., 2005. 3-D Mapping of Natural Environments With Trees by Means of Mobile Perception . IEEE transactions on robotics, vol. 21, no. 3, june 2005.

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Haala, N., , R., Thies, M., and Aschoff, T., 2004, Combination of terrestrial laser scanning with high resolution panoramic images for investigations in forest applications and tree species recognition. In proceedings of the ISPRS Panoramic Photogrammetry Workshop, February 19-22, 2004, Dresden, Germany.

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References 3Hopkinson, C., Chasmer, L., Young-Pow, C., and Treitz, P., 2004, Assessing forest metrics with a ground-based

scanning lidar. Canadian Journal of Forest Research-Revue Canadienne de Recherche Forestiere, 34, 573–583.

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Liang, X Litkey, P, Hyyppä, J, Kaartinen, H., Vastaranta, M., and Holopainen, M., 2009. Automatic stem location mapping using TLS for plot-wise forest inventory . SilviLaser 2009, Oct. 14-16, 2009 – College Station, Texas, USA .

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Olofsson, K., E. Lindberg and Holmgren, J., 2008. A method for linking field-surveyed and aerial-detected single trees using cross correlation of position images and the optimization of weighted tree list graphs. SilviLaser 2008, 8th international conference on LiDAR applications in forest assessment and inventory., Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, UK, SilviLaser 2008 Organizing Committee, Edinburgh: Forest Research.

Olofsson, K., and Holmgren, J. Single Tree Stem Profile Detection Using Terrestrial Laser Scanner Data, Flatness Saliency Features and Curvature Properties. Forests 2016, 7(9)


References 4Pfeifer, N. and Winterhalder, D., 2004, Modelling of Tree Cross Sections from Terrestrial Laser-Scanning Data with Free-Form

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Documents

Terrestrial Laser Scanning: Can we see the wood for the treesTopographic laser ranging and scanning. Principles and processing. Taylor & Francis Group, London New York. Simonse, M.,