Segmentation of Forest to Tree Objects

Abstract

This chapter reviews the use of airborne LiDAR data for the segmentationof forest to tree objects. The benefit obtained by LiDAR data istypically related to the use of the third dimension, i.e. the heightdata. Forest and stand objects may be segmented based on physicalcriteria, for example height and density information, while a furtherdelineation to different timber types would require leaf-off data or anadditional data source such as spectral images. Most forest applicationsof the LiDAR data are based on using digital surface models, butespecially tree-level segmentation may benefit from a combination ofraster and point data, and can be performed solely on point data.Finally, there are several established techniques for tree shapereconstruction based on the segmented point data.