What is it about?

Regional authorities require detailed and georeferenced information on the status of forests to ensure a sustainable forest management. One of the objectives in the FP7 project EUFODOS was the development of an operational service based on airborne laser scanning and satellite data in order to derive forest parameters relevant for the management of protective forests in the Alps. The estimated parameters are forest type, stem number, height of upper layer, mean height and timber volume. RapidEye imagery was used to derive coniferous and broadleaf forest classes using a logistic regression-based method. After the generation of a normalised Digital Surface Model and a forest mask, the forest area was segmented into homogeneous polygons, tree tops were detected, and various forest parameters are calculated. The results have been successfully integrated into the regional forestry GIS and are used in forest management.

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Why is it important?

Stand and site data are most often obtained by expensive ground-based surveys or time-consuming inventories. The terrestrial monitoring methods cannot ensure a full coverage since a complete inspection of the whole area is not feasible using the available technical and personnel resources and within an acceptable time frame. Therefore, the FP7 EUFODOS services, based on remote sensing data, which were customized to users` needs, were developed to facilitate a precise localisation and effective assessment of forest damages as well as an operational derivation of desired forest parameters.

Perspectives

The results in the Austrian test case within the EUFODOS project proved that it is possible to derive forest parameters over large regions using a combined approach of LiDAR and satellite data. In EUFODOS a processing line for the derivation of forest parameters from high-resolution LiDAR data was developed and implemented into an operational toolbox which is in an operational status and is disposed for commercial selling.

Dr. Stefanie Linser
niversity of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna (BOKU)

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This page is a summary of: The assessment of forest parameters by combined LiDAR and satellite data over Alpine regions – EUFODOS Implementation in Austria / Hodnotenie parametrov lesa kombináciou LIDAR-u a satelitných údajov v alpských regiónoch – implementácia systému EUFODOS ..., Central European Forestry Journal, January 2015, De Gruyter,
DOI: 10.1515/forj-2015-0008.
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