The project evaluated LiDAR based inventory solutions for softwood plantations in terms of information outcomes, technical feasibility and cost effectiveness.
The project demonstrated that imputation models are able to predict many commercially valuable parameters, appear robust and produce predictions that make sense. Since models are central in a model-based inventory system this provides confidence that a LiDAR based inventory system will be able to match the accuracy of conventional systems.
Three methods for estimating tree stocking were developed using LiDAR data: the Individual Tree Detection (ITD), the Regression method and the Variable Window Size (VWS) methods. As the three methods differ in terms of the input data they require and the outputs they produce, one of the methods may be best depending on available data and the outputs required.
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