Airborne laser scanning of forest resources: An overview of research in Italy as a commentary case study |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Dipartimento di Bioscienze e Territorio, University of Molise, Contrada Fonte Lappone, Pesche, IS 86090, Italy;2. Northern Research Station, U.S. Forest Service, Saint Paul, Minnesota 55108, USA;3. Department of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Systems, University of Florence, Florence 50145, Italy;1. Forest Ecology and Conservation Group, Department of Plant Sciences, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EA, UK;2. Department of Sustainable Agro-ecosystems and Bioresources, Research and Innovation Centre, Fondazione E. Mach, Via E. Mach 1, 38010 San Michele all''Adige (TN), Italy;3. Department of Global Ecology, Carnegie Institution for Science, 260 Panama Street, Stanford, CA 94305 USA;4. Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Bush Estate, Penicuik, Midlothian, EH26 0QB;5. School of Biological Sciences, University of Aberdeen, Cruickshank Building, St Machar Drive, Aberdeen AB24 3UU, UK;6. School of Geography, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK;7. Department of Geography, University College London, London WC1E 6BT, UK;8. Forest Research Centre, Sabah Forestry Department, P.O. Box 1407, 90715 Sandakan, Sabah, Malaysia;9. Faculty of Science and Natural Resources, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia;1. Integrated Remote Sensing Studio, Department of Forest Resources Management, University of British Columbia, 2424 Main Mall, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z4, Canada;2. Canadian Forest Service (Pacific Forestry Centre), Natural Resources Canada, 506 West Burnside Road, Victoria, BC, V8Z 1M5, Canada;3. Department of Forestry and Wildland Resources, Humboldt State University, 1 Harpst St., Arcata, CA 95521, USA |
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| Abstract: | This article reviews the recent literature concerning airborne laser scanning for forestry purposes in Italy, and presents the current methodologies used to extract forest characteristics from discrete return ALS (Airborne Laser Scanning) data. Increasing interest in ALS data is currently being shown, especially for remote sensing-based forest inventories in Italy; the driving force for this interest is the possibility of reducing costs and providing more accurate and efficient estimation of forest characteristics. This review covers a period of approximately ten years, from the first application of laser scanning for forestry purposes in 2003 to the present day, and shows that there are numerous ongoing research activities which use these technologies for the assessment of forest attributes (e.g., number of trees, mean tree height, stem volume) and ecological issues (e.g., gap identification, fuel model detection). The basic approaches – such as single tree detection and area-based modeling – have been widely examined and commented in order to explore the trend of methods in these technologies, including their applicability and performance. Finally this paper outlines and comments some of the common problems encountered in operational use of laser scanning in Italy, offering potentially useful guidelines and solutions for other countries with similar conditions, under a rather variable environmental framework comprising Alpine, temperate and Mediterranean forest ecosystems. |
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| Keywords: | ALS LiDAR Forest inventory Forest management and planning |
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