Applicability of Mobile Laser Scanning for Forest Inventories

Terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) has been successfully used for three-dimensional (3D) data capture in forests for almost two decades. Beyond the plot-based data capturing capabilities of TLS, vehicle-based mobile laser scanning (MLS) systems have the clear advantage of fast and precise 3D data capture of larger areas. In this study we compare and discuss advantages and disadvantages of MLS data acquisition compared to established TLS data recording schemes. It was found that existing TLS data evaluation routines can generally be used for MLS data processing. MLS is able to provide precise data for an equivalent determination of relevant forest inventory parameters compared to TLS, such as tree position, diameter at breast height (DBH) or tree height. However, the resolution of MLS scans was found insufficient for certain high-quality analyses. Further research is required to attempt such analyses.

Original publication:

Bienert A, Georgi L, Kunz M, Maas HG, von Oheimb G (2018) Comparison and combination of mobile and terrestrial laser scanning for natural forest inventories. Forests 9 (7): 395. DOI 10.3390/f9070395