Abstract
Background and Purpose: Over the last twenty years airborne laser scanning (ALS) technology, also referred to as LiDAR, has been established in a many disciplines as a fully automated and highly efficient method of collecting spatial data. In Croatia, as well as in most countries of the South-East Europe (SEE) with the exception of Slovenia, the research on the application of ALS in forestry has not yet been conducted. Also, regional scientific and professional literature dealing with ALS application is scarce. Therefore, the main goal of this review paper is to present the ALS technology to the forestry community of SEE and to provide an overview of its potential application in forest inventory. The primary focus is given to discrete return ALS systems.
Highlights
Remote sensing is nowadays commonly used within many environmental disciplines, such as geography, geology, botany, zoology, civil engineering, forestry, meteorology, agriculture, oceanography, etc. [1]
Laser scanning technology is referred to as LiDAR which means detection and distance determination using a pulse of light [3, 4]
In South-East Europe (SEE) countries the application of remote sensing in practical forestry usually implies only the use of orthophoto maps to assist in field orientation, there are studies dealing with the potential use of satellite images [100], as well as digital aerial images [101,102,103] in forest management
Summary
Remote sensing is nowadays commonly used within many environmental disciplines, such as geography, geology, botany, zoology, civil engineering, forestry, meteorology, agriculture, oceanography, etc. [1]. BALENOVIĆ I, ALBERTI G, MARJANOVIĆ H aerial digital images), laser scanning technology has been established over the last twenty years as a fully automated and highly efficient method of collecting spatial data [2]. Over the last twenty years airborne laser scanning (ALS) technology, referred to as LiDAR, has been established in a many disciplines as a fully automated and highly efficient method of collecting spatial data. Conclusions and Future Research Streams: Results presented in this paper show that the ALS technology has a significant potential for application in forest inventory. Researches on application of ALS technology in SEE forestry are needed, primarily focusing to question of “if” and “to what extent” the ALS technology can improve the existing terrestrial method of forest inventory. Besides the application in the classical forest inventory, the option to apply it for estimation of the biomass, carbon stock, combustible matter, etc, should be further investigated
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