Abstract
Abstract. Precision forestry is becoming a key sector for forest planning because it allows complex analyses of forest data to be carried out simply and economically. It contributes to the integration between technicians and operators in the sector by guaranteeing the transparency of the forest management operations (Corona et al., 2017). In the context of the progressive development of technology, we investigated the feasibility of using the hand-held mobile laser scanner (HMLS) system in different types of forest sites and comparison of the characteristics of individual trees (tree height, diameters at breast height) with traditional surveys, applied with the aim to validate the performance of the system for a future alternative methodology for forest planning thanks to the collaboration with the forestry company “Dimensione Ricerca Ecologia Ambiente Italia” (D.R.E.Am. Italia). GEOSLAM ZEB HORIZON ™ laser scanner is a hand-held mobile laser scanner containing SLAM technology that can be solved the problem of no GNSS signal or poor signal under the forest canopy making it more practical for forest investigations (Gollob et al., 2020). 15 forest sample plots are selected to reflect different stand conditions in Mediterranean forests taking into count the development stage and density of the sub-canopy vegetation, as well as the species composition in the forest stands. The aim of this study is to show the possible extrinsic circumstances that make the method fail by varying the ecological status of forest plots.
Highlights
In the Italian territory, the sustainable management of forest resources combines the principles of conservation of the dynamic entity of ecosystems with the practical and economic feasibility of the survey for forestry companies
In this work we studied the feasibility of using a portable laser scanner system (HMLS) with Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) technology in different types of forest sites and comparing the characteristics of individual trees with traditional surveys, applied to validate their performance as alternative survey
Our tests show a high variability of the results in the different sampling areas and a general tendency to obtain higher values of each variable with the held mobile laser scanner (HMLS) method compared to the values calculated with the traditional method
Summary
In the Italian territory, the sustainable management of forest resources combines the principles of conservation of the dynamic entity of ecosystems with the practical and economic feasibility of the survey for forestry companies. In the European and international context, Beland et al (2019) observed how the laser scanning platforms made up a real revolution in surveys of last years bringing productivity and good economic savings for big companies. They show that the laser scanning platforms offer two main advantages in forest applications: 1to provide valuable information not accessible from a traditional survey in the field (e.g., stem maps, stem density, taper, and basal area, vertical profiles of LAI2, canopy roughness and cover fraction); 2- to acquire data quickly and with good accuracy of the laser pulse returns. The aim of this study is to verify limits and difficulties of the method in relation to the different ecological characteristics of the investigated forests
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