Huaibo Mu (recipient of three LASmoons)
Environmental Mapping, Department of Geography
University College London (UCL), UK

Background:
This study is a part of the EU-funded Metrology for Earth Observation and Climate project (MetEOC-2). It aims to combine terrestrial and airborne LiDAR data to estimate biomass and allometry for woodland trees in the UK. Airborne LiDAR can capture large amounts of data over large areas, while terrestrial LiDAR can provide much more details of high quality in specific areas. The biomass and allometry for individual specific tree species in 1 ha of Wytham Woods located about 5km north west of the University of Oxford, UK are estimated by combining both airborne and terrestrial LiDAR. Then the bias will be evaluated when estimation are applied on different levels: terrestrial LiDAR level, tree level, and area level. The goal are better insights and a controllable error range in the bias of biomass and allometry estimates for woodland trees based on airborne LiDAR.

Goal:
The study aims to find the suitable parameters of allometric equations for different specific species and establish the relationship between the tree height and stem diameter and crown diameter to be able to estimate the above ground biomass using airborne LiDAR. The biomass estimates under different levels are then compared to evaluate the bias and for the total 6ha of Wytham Woods for calibration and validation. Finally the results are to be applied to other woodlands in the UK. The LiDAR processing tasks for which LAStools are used mainly center around the creation of suitable a Canopy Height Model (CHM) from the airborne LiDAR.

Data:
+ Airborne LiDAR data produced by Professor David Coomes (University of Cambridge) with Airborne Research and Survey Facility (ARSF) Project code of RG13_08 in June 2014. The average point density is about 5.886 per m^2.
+ Terrestrial LiDAR data collected by UCL’s team leader by Dr. Mat Disney and Dr. Kim Calders in order to develop very detailed 3D models of the trees.
+ Fieldwork from the project “Initial Results from Establishment of a Long-term Broadleaf Monitoring Plot at Wytham Woods, Oxford, UK” by Butt et al. (2009).

LAStools processing:
1) check LiDAR quality as described in these videos and articles [lasinfo, lasvalidate, lasoverlap, lasgrid, las2dem]
2) classify into ground and non-ground points using tile-based processing  [lastile, lasground]
3) generate a Digital Terrain Model (DTM) [las2dem]
4) compute height of points and delete points higher than maximum tree height obtained from terrestrial LiDAR [lasheight]
5) convert points into disks with 10 cm diameter to conservatively account for laser beam width [lasthin]
6) generate spike-free Digital Surface Model (DSM) based on algorithm by Khosravipour et al. (2016) [las2dem]
7) create Canopy Height Model (CHM) by subtracting DTM from spike-free DSM [lasheight].

References:
Butt, N., Campbell, G., Malhi, Y., Morecroft, M., Fenn, K., & Thomas, M. (2009). Initial results from establishment of a long-term broadleaf monitoring plot at Wytham Woods, Oxford, UK. University Oxford, Oxford, UK, Rep.
Khosravipour, A., Skidmore, A.K., Isenburg, M., Wang, T.J., Hussin, Y.A., (2014). Generating pit-free Canopy Height Models from Airborne LiDAR. PE&RS = Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing 80, 863-872.
Khosravipour, A., Skidmore, A.K., Isenburg, M. and Wang, T.J. (2015) Development of an algorithm to generate pit-free Digital Surface Models from LiDAR, Proceedings of SilviLaser 2015, pp. 247-249, September 2015.
Khosravipour, A., Skidmore, A.K., Isenburg, M (2016) Generating spike-free Digital Surface Models using raw LiDAR point clouds: a new approach for forestry applications, (journal manuscript under review).

Chris J. Chandler (recipient of three LASmoons)
School of Geography
University of Nottingham, UNITED KINGDOM

Background:
Wetlands provide a range of important ecosystem services: they store carbon, regulate greenhouse gas emissions, provide flood protection as well as water storage and purification. Preserving these services is critical to achieve sustainable environmental management. Currently, mangrove forests are protected in Mexico, however, fresh water wetland forests, which also have high capacity for storing carbon both in the trees and in the soil, are not protected under present legislation. As a result, coastal wetlands in Mexico are threatened by conversion to grazing areas, drainage for urban development and pollution. Given these threats, there is an urgent need to understand the current state and distribution of wetlands to inform policy and protect the ecosystem services provided by these wetlands.
In this project we will combine field data collection, satellite data (i.e. optical remote sensing, radar and LiDAR remote sensing) and modelling to provide an integrated technology for assessing the value of a range of ecosystem services, tested to proof of concept stage based on carbon storage. The outcome of the project will be a tool for mapping the value of a range of ecosystem services. These maps will be made directly available to local stakeholders including policy makers and land users to inform policy regarding forest protection/legislation and aid development of financial incentives for local communities to protect these services.

Wetland classification in the Chiapas region of Mexico

Goal:
At this stage of the project we have characterized wetlands for three priority areas in Mexico (Pantanos de Centla, La Encrucijada and La Mancha). Next stage is the up scaling of the field data at the three study sites using LiDAR data for producing high quality Canopy Height Model (CHM), which has been of great importance for biomass estimation (Ferraz et al., 2016). A high quality CHM will be achieved using LAStools software.

Data:
+ LiDAR provided by the Mexican National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI)
+ average height: 5500 m, mirror angle: +/- 30 degrees, speed: 190 knots
+ collected with Cessna 441, Conquest II system at 1 pts/m².

LAStools processing:
1) create 1000 meter tiles with 35 meter buffer to avoid edge artifacts [lastile]
2) classify point clouds into ground and non-ground [lasground]
3) normalize height of points above the ground [lasheight]
4) create a Digital Terrain and Surface Model (DTM and DSM) [las2dem]
5) generate a spike-free Canopy Height Model (CHM) as described here and here [las2dem]
6) compute various metrics for each plot and the normalized tiles [lascanopy]

References:
Ferraz, A., Saatchi, S., Mallet, C., Jacquemoud S., Gonçalves G., Silva C.A., Soares P., Tomé, M. and Pereira, L. (2016). Airborne Lidar Estimation of Aboveground Forest Biomass in the Absence of Field Inventory. Remote Sensing, 8(8), 653.

Manuel Jurado (recipient of three LASmoons)
Departamento de Ingeniería Topográfica y Cartografía
Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, SPAIN

Background:
The availability of LiDAR data is creating a lot of innovative possibilities in different fields of science, education, and other field of interests. One of the areas that has been deeply impacted by LiDAR is cartography and in particular one highly specialized sub-field of cartography in the domain of recreational and professional orienteering running: the production of high-quality maps for orienteering races (Ditz et al., 2014). These are thematic maps with a lot of fine detail which demands many hours of field work for the map maker. In order to reduce the fieldwork, LiDAR data obtained from Airborne Research Australia (ARA) is going to be used in order to obtain DEM and to extract features that must be included in these maps. The data will be filtered and processed with the help of LAStools.

Final map with symbolism typical for use in orienteering running

Goal:
The goal of this project is to extract either point (boulders, mounds), linear (contours, erosion gullies, cliffs) and area features (vegetation density) that should be drawn in a orienteering map derived from high-resolution LiDAR. Different LiDAR derived raster images are being created: 0.5m DTM, vegetation density (J. Ryyppo, 2013), slope, Sky-View factor (Ž. Kokalj et al., 2011), and shaded relief. The area used is in Renmark, South Australia and the produced map is going to be used for the Australian Orienteering Championships 2018.

Sky-View factor of DTM for same area as shown above.

Data:
+ 4 square kilometers of airborne LiDAR data produced by Airborne Research Australia at 18 pulses per square meter using the full waveform scanning LiDAR Q680i-S laser scanner from RIEGL
+ 60 hours of check and validation work in the field

LAStools processing:
1) tile into 500 by 500 meter tiles with 20 meter buffer [lastile]
2) classify isolated points as noise [lasnoise]
3) classify point clouds into ground and non-ground [lasground]
4) create a Digital Terrain Model (DTM) [las2dem]
5) normalize height of points above the ground [lasheight]
6) compute vegetation density metrics [lascanopy]
7) create hillshades of the raster DTMs [blast2dem or GDAL]

References:
Ditz, Robert, Franz Glaner, and Georg Gartner. (2014). “Laser Scanning and Orienteering Maps.” Scientific Journal of Orienteering 19.1.
JRyyppo, Jarkko. (2013). “Karttapullautin vegetation mapping guide”.
Kokalj, Žiga, Zaksek, Klemen, and Oštir, Krištof. (2011). Application of sky-view factor for the visualization of historic landscape features in lidar-derived relief models. Antiquity. 85. 263-273.

Sebastian Kasanmascheff (recipient of three LASmoons)
Forest Inventory and Remote Sensing
Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, GERMANY

Background:
Forest inventories are the backbone of forest management in Germany. In most federal forestry administrations in Germany, they are performed every ten years in order to assure that logging activities are sustainable. The process involves trained foresters who visit each stand (i.e. an area where the forest is similar in terms of age structure and tree species) and perform angle count sampling as developed by Walter Bitterlich in 1984. In a second step the annual growth is calculated using yield tables and finally a harvest volume is derived. There are three particular reasons to investigate how remote sensing can be integrated in the current inventory system:

1. The current process does not involve random sampling of the sampling points and thus does not offer any measure of the accuracy of the data.
2. Forest engineers hardly ever rely on the inventory data as a stand-alone basis for logging planning. Most often they rely on intuition alone and on the total volume count that they have to deliver for a wider area every year.
3. In the last ten years, the collection of high-resolution LiDAR data has become more cost-effective and most federal agencies in Germany have access to it.

In order to be able to integrate the available remote-sensing data for forest inventories in Germany, it is important to tell apart different tree species as well as estimate their volumes.

Hesse is one of the most forested federal states in Germany.

Goal:
The goal of this project is to perform an object-based classification of conifer trees in Northern Hesse based on high-resolution LiDAR and multi-spectral orthophotos. The first step is to delineate the tree crowns. The second step is to perform a semi-automated classification using the spectral signature of the different conifer species.

Data:
+ DSM (1m), DTM (1m), DSM (0.2 m) of the study area
+ Stereo images with 0.2 m resolution
+ high-resolution LiDAR data (average 10 points/m²)
+ forest inventory data
+ vector files of the individual forest stands
+ ground control points (field data)
All of this data is provided by the Hessian Forest Agency (HessenForst).

LAStools processing:
1) merge and clip the LAZ files [las2las]
2) classify ground and non-ground points [lasground]
3) remove low and high outliers [lasheight, lasnoise]
4) identify buildings within the study area [lasclassify]
5) create a normalized point cloud [lasheight]
6) create a highest-return canopy height model (CHM) [lasthin, las2dem]
7) create a pit-free (CHM) with the spike-free algorithm [las2dem]

Martin Buchauer (recipient of three LASmoons)
Cartography & Geomedia Technology
University of Applied Science Munich, GERMANY

Background:
Salt marsh areas provide numerous services such as natural flood defenses, carbon sequestration, agricultural services, and are a valuable coastal habitat for flora, fauna and humans. However, they are not only threatened by the constant rise of sea levels caused by global warming but also by human settlement in coastal areas. A sensible local coastal development is important as it may help to support the development and progression of stressed salt marshes.

Looking South you can see the salt marsh area next to a famous golf course with St Andrews in the background.

Goal:

This research aims to visualize and extract vegetation metrics as well as the temporal analysis of four salt marsh data sets which are derived from terrestrial laser scanning. Located at the South and North shore of the Eden Estuary near St Andrews, Scotland, the scans were acquired in the summer and winter of 2016. Ground based laser scanning is an ideal method of fully reconstructing vegetation structures as well as having the ability to retrieve meaningful metrics such as height, area, and vegetation density. Although this technology has frequently been applied in the area of forestry, its application to salt marsh areas has not yet fully explored.

Data:
+ TLS data acquired with a Leica HDS6100 (average density of 38000 points/m²)
+ ground control points (field data)

LAStools processing:
1) check the quality of the LiDAR data [lasinfo, lasoverlap, lasgrid]
2) merge and retile the original data with buffers [lastile]
3) classify point clouds into ground and non-ground [lasthin, lasground]
4) create digital terrain (DTM) and digital surface models (DSM) [lasthin, las2dem, blast2dem]

Alex S. Olpenda (recipient of three LASmoons)
Department of Geomatics and Spatial Planning, Faculty of Forestry
Warsaw University of Life Sciences, POLAND

Background:
The Bialowieza Forest is a trans-boundary property along the borders of Poland and Belarus consisting of diverse Central European lowland forest covering a total area of 141,885 hectares. Enlisted as one of the world’s biosphere reserves and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Bialowieza Forest conserves a complex ecosystem that supports vast wildlife including at least 250 species of birds and more than 50 mammals such as wolf, moose, lynx and the largest free-roaming population of the forest’s iconic species, the European bison [1]. The area is also significantly rich in dead wood which becomes a home for countless species of mushrooms, mold, bacteria and insects of which many of them are endangered of extinction [2]. Another factor, aside from soil type, that impacts the species of plant communities growing in the area is humidity [3] which can be considered as a function of solar radiation. Understanding the interactions and dynamics of these elements within the environment is vital for proper management and conservation practices. Sunlight below canopies is a driving force that affects the growth and survival of both fauna and flora directly and indirectly. Measurement and monitoring of this variable is crucial.

The European bison  (image credit to Frederic Demeuse).

Goal:
Remote sensing technology can describe the light condition inside the forest with relatively high spatial and temporal resolutions at large scale. The goal of this research is to develop a predictive model to estimate sub-canopy light condition of Bialowieza Forest inside Poland’s territory using LiDAR data. Aside from common metrics based on heights and intensities, extraction of selected metrics known to infer transmitted light are also to be done. Returns that belong or are close to the ground are a good substitute for sun-rays that reach the forest floor while vegetation-classified returns could be assumed as the ones impeding the light. Relationships between these metrics and to both direct and diffuse sunlight derived from hemispherical photographs will be explored. Furthermore, multiple regression shall then be conducted between the parameters. Previous similar studies have been done successfully but mostly in homogeneous forest. The task might pose a challenge as Bialowieza Forest is a mixture of conifers and broad-leaved trees.

Location map of the study site with 100 random sample plots.

Data:
+ 2015 ALS data set obtained using full waveform sensor (Riegl LMS-Q680i)
+ discrete point clouds (average pulse density: 6 points/m²)
+ 134 flightlines with 40% overlap
+ forest inventory data (100 circular plots, 12.62 m radius)
+ colored hemispherical photographs
All of this data is provided by the Forest Research Institute through the ForBioSensing project.

LAStools processing:
1) data quality checking [lasinfo, lasoverlap, lasgrid, lasreturn]
2) merge and clip the LAZ files [las2las]
3) classify ground and non-ground points [lasground]
4) remove low and high outliers [lasheight, lasnoise]
5) create a normalized point cloud [lasheight]
6) compute forestry metrics for each plot [lascanopy]

References:
[1] UNESCO. World Heritage List. Available online (accessed on 2 October 2017).
[2] Polish Tourism Organization. Official Travel Website. Available online (accessed on 3 October 2017).
[3] Bialowieza National Park. Available online (accessed on 3 October 2017).

Maria Kampouri (recipient of three LASmoons)
Remote Sensing Laboratory, School of Rural & Surveying Engineering
National and Technical University of Athens, GREECE

Background:
The Aralar Natural Park, famous for its stunning landscapes, is located in the southeast of the province of Gipuzkoa, sharing a border with the neighboring province of Navarre. Inside the park there are nature reserves of exceptional importance, such as beech woods, large number of yew trees, very singular species of flora and fauna and areas of exceptional geological interest. Griffon vultures, Egyptian vultures, golden eagles and even bearded vultures (also known as lammergeier) can be seen flying over this area. European minks and Pyrenean desmans can be found in the streams and rivers that descend from the mountain tops.

The concept of biodiversity is based on inter- and intra-species genetic variation and has been evolving over the past 25 years. The importance of mapping biodiversity in order to plan its conservation, as well as identifying patterns in endemism and biodiversity hot-spots, have been pillars for EU and global environmental policy and legislation. The coupling of remote sensing and field data can increase reliability, periodicity and reproduce-ability of ecosystem process and biodiversity monitoring, leading to an increasing interest in environmental monitoring, using data for the same areas over time. Natural processes and complexity are best explored by observing ecosystems or landscapes through scale alteration, using spatial analysis tools, such as LAStools.

DTM generated with restricted version of las2dem above point limits

Goal:
The aim of this study is to investigate the potential use of LiDAR data for the identification and determination of forest patches of particular interest, with respect to ecosystem dynamics and biodiversity and to produce a relevant biodiversity map, based on Simpson’s Diversity Index for Aralar Natural Park.

Data:
+ approximately 123 km^2 of LiDAR in 1km x 1km LAS tiles
+ Average point density: 2 pts/m^2
+ Spatial referencing system: ETRS89 UTM zone 30N with elevations on the EGM08 geoid. Data from LiDAR flights are These files were obtained from the LiDAR flight carried out in 2008 by the Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa and the LiDAR flights of the Basque Government.

LAStools processing:
1) data quality checking [lasinfo, lasoverlap, lasgrid, lasreturn]
2) classify ground and non-ground points [lasground]
3) remove low and high outliers [lasheight, lasnoise]
4) identify buildings within the study area [lasclassify]
5) create DTM tiles with 0.5 step in ‘.bil’ format [las2dem]
6) create DSM tiles with 0.5 step in ‘.bil’ format [las2dem]
7) create a normalized point cloud [lasheight]
8) create a highest-return canopy height model (CHM) [lasthin, las2dem]
9) create a pit-free (CHM) with the spike-free algorithm [las2dem]
10) create various rasters with forest metrics [lascanopy]

The generated elevation and forest metrics rasters are then combined with satellite data to create a biodiversity map, using Simpson’s Diversity Index.

David Bandrowski (recipient of three LASmoons)
Yurok Tribe
Native American Indian Tribe in Northern California, USA

Background:
Wild spring-run Chinook salmon populations on the South Fork Trinity River in Northern California are near the brink of extinction. The South Fork Trinity River is the most remote and the largest un-dammed river in the State of California, federally designated as a wild and scenic river, and is a keystone watershed within the Klamath River basin supporting one of the last remaining populations of wild spring-run Chinook salmon. Ecosystem restoration is urgently needed to improve watershed health in the face of climate change, land use, and water diversions. This drastic decline of the wild salmon species motivated the Yurok Tribe and its partners to take action and implement this project as a last opportunity to save this species before extinction. Spring-run Chinook are extremely important for the Yurok people culturally, spiritually, and for a subsistence food source.

sample of the available photogrammetry data

Goal:
Due to budgetary constraints, airborne LiDAR is not available; therefore the Yurok Tribe has been using aerial drones and Structure for Motion (SfM) photogrammetry to develop DTM models that can be used in determining available salmon habitat and to develop prioritized locations for restoration. The watershed has extremely heavy vegetation, and obtaining bare-earth surfaces for hydraulic modeling is difficult without the proper tools. The goal is to use LAStools to further restoration science and create efficient workflows for DTM development.

Data:
+ length of river mapped: 8 Kilometers
+ number of points: 150,856,819
+ horizontal datum: North American Datum 83 – California State Plane – Zone 1 (usft)
+ vertical datum: North American Vertical Datum 88

LAStools processing:
1) data quality checking [lasinfo, lasview, lasgrid]
2) classify ground and non-ground points [lasground and lasground_new]
3) remove low and high outliers [lasheight, lasnoise]
4) create DTM tiles at appropriate resolution [las2dem]
5) create a normalized point cloud [lasheight]

Volga Lipwoni (recipient of three LASmoons)
Department of Geography, School of Earth and Environment
University of Canterbury, NEW ZEALAND

Background:
Structure from motion (SfM) photogrammetry, has emerged as an effective tool to accurately extract three-dimensional (3D) structures from a series of overlapping two-dimensional (2D) Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) images. The bid to switch from the current labour-intensive, and time consuming forestry inventory practices has seen a lot of interest geared towards understanding the use of SfM photogrammetry to derive forest metrics (Iglhaut et al., 2019). There are a range of commercial, free and open source SfM photogrammetric software packages that can be used to process UAV images into 3D point clouds. Selection of the most appropriate package has become an important issue for most projects (Turner, Lucieer, & Wallace, 2013). A comparison of software performance in terms of accuracy, processing times and related costs would help foresters in deciding the best tool for the job.

Typical point cloud derived with SfM software from UAV imagery.

Goal:
The study will generate 3D point clouds of images of a young forest trial and LAStools will be used to derive canopy height models (CHM) for computing tree heights. Tree heights from LiDAR data will serve as a baseline for accuracy assessment of heights derived from the point clouds.

Data:
+ 422 UAV images processed into 3D point clouds using ten (10) different commercial and open source SfM software packages

LAStools processing:
1) tile large point cloud into tiles with buffer [lastile]
2) remove noise points [lasthin, lasnoise]
3) classify points into ground and non-ground [lasground]
4) create Digital Terrain Modelsand Digital Surface Models [lasthin, las2dem]
5) produce Canopy Height Models for computing tree heights [lasheight, las2dem]

References:
Iglhaut, J., Cabo, C., Puliti, S., Piermattei, L., O’Connor, J., & Rosette, J. (2019). Structure from motion photogrammetry in forestry: A review. Current Forestry Reports, 5(3), 155-168. doi:https://doi.org/10.1007/s40725-019-00094-3
Turner, D., Lucieer, A., & Wallace, L. (2013). Direct georeferencing of ultrahigh-resolution UAV imagery. EEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, 52(5), 2738-2745. doi:10.1109/TGRS.2013.2265295

Martin Romain (recipient of three LASmoons)
Marshall Islands Conservation Society
Majuro, Republic of the MARSHALL ISLANDS

Background:
As a low-lying coastal nation, the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) is at the forefront of exposure to climate change impacts. RMI has a strong dependence on natural resources and biodiversity not only for food and income but also for culture and livelihood. However, these resources are threatened by rising sea levels and associated coastal hazards (king tides, storm surges, wave run-up, saltwater intrusion, erosion). This project aims at addressing the lack of technical capacity and available data to implement effective risk reduction and adaptation measures, with a particular focus on inundation mapping and local evacuation planning in population centers.

Typical low-lying coastal area of the Republic of the Marshall

Goal:
This project intends to use LAStools to generate a DEM of the inhabited sections of 3 remote atolls (Aur, Ebon, Likiep) and 1 island (Mejit). The resulting DEM will be used to produce an inundation exposure model (and map) under variable sea level rise projections for each site. The ultimate goal is to integrate the results into each site’s disaster risk reduction strategy (long-term outcome) and present it through community consultations in schools, community centers, and council houses.

Data:
+ Aerial imagery of 11.5 square kilometers of land (6.3% of total national landmass) using DJI Matrice 200 V2 & DJI Zenmuse X5S with a minimum overlap of 75/75 and maximum altitude of 120m.

LAStools processing:
1) tile large point cloud into tiles with buffer [lastile]
2) remove noise points [lasthin, lasnoise]
3) classify points into ground and non-ground [lasground]
4) create Digital Terrain Models and Digital Surface Models [lasthin, las2dem]

Potential LAStools pipelines:
1) Removing Excessive Low Noise from Dense-Matching Point Clouds
2) Digital Pothole Removal: Clean Road Surface from Noisy Pix4D Point Cloud
3) Creating DTMs from dense-matched points of UAV imagery from SenseFly’s eBee