Die Bodenkultur - Journal for Land Management, Food and Environment

M. Hollaus and W. Wagner:

Possibilities of airborne laser scanning data for forestry applications

Summary

This paper provides a review of research activities in the field of airborne laser scanning (ALS) remote sensing that have been conducted at the Institute of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (IPF) at the Vienna University of Technology over the last few years. The focus is on the application of ALS data for forestry use. Many of the described methods were developed in cooperation with the forest administration Stand Montafon Forstfonds and the Austrian Research and Training Centre for Forests, Natural Hazards and Landscape (BFW), Institute of Forest Inventory. Algorithms for assessing forest parameters from ALS data are described and their operational applications are discussed. Key words: Topography, forest inventory, stem volume, tree height, forest structure, tree species.