Paper Info
Title
Detecting Changes in Forest Structure over Time with Bi-Temporal Terrestrial Laser Scanning Data.
Abstract
Changes to stems caused by natural forces and timber harvesting constitute an essential input for many forestry-related applications and ecological studies, especially forestry inventories based on the use of permanent sample plots. Conventional field measurement is widely acknowledged as being time-consuming and labor-intensive. More automated and efficient alternatives or supportive methods are needed. Terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) has been demonstrated to be a promising method in forestry field inventories. Nevertheless, the applicability of TLS in recording changes in the structure of forest plots has not been studied in detail. This paper presents a fully automated method for detecting changes in forest structure over time using bi-temporal TLS data. The developed method was tested on five densely populated forest plots including 137 trees and 50 harvested trees in point clouds. The present study demonstrated that 90 percent of tree stem changes could be automatically located from single-scan TLS data. These changes accounted for 92 percent of the changed basal area. The results indicate that the processing of TLS data collected at different times to detect tree stem changes can be fully automated.
Year
DOI
Venue
2012
10.3390/ijgi1030242
ISPRS INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF GEO-INFORMATION
Keywords
Field
DocType
forestry,remote sensing,terrestrial laser scanning,change detection,point cloud
Change detection,Remote sensing,Basal area,Forest structure,Forest plot,Terrestrial laser scanning,Point cloud,Geography,Logging
Journal
Volume
Issue
ISSN
1
3
2220-9964
Citations 
PageRank 
References 
14
1.85
2
Authors
5
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Xinlian Liang119323.72
Juha Hyyppä243966.75
Harri Kaartinen360863.10
Markus Holopainen435740.95
Timo Melkas5255.64