Lidar uses in Arboriculture.

[colemanjessenz]

Hey everyone,

For those who don't know me, I’m Jesse Coleman, and I run a company based in New Zealand. We’ve recently acquired a LiDAR unit and have begun exploring its potential. Initially, we aimed to use it for data acquisition, estimation, and presentations for larger-scale helicopter work. However, we've been so impressed with the technology and its results that we're now incorporating it into our day-to-day services.

I’d love to hear from those of you who are already using this tech. Where have you found it to be game-changing? Whether it's tree inventories, site scanning, harvest models, or something else, I’m interested to hear more about how you're utilising LiDAR and where you see its future heading.

Looking forward to your insights.

 

[daltontrees]

I see it being used in topograpic surveys for development sites (DTMs). A colleague fantasises about it being able to mark the posiitons and measure the heights. crown spreads and stem diameters of all the trees on  a site, but I'm not sure it's realistic or cost effective (yet). I got someone to use it in my previous job to create a 3D model of a town centre I was working on.

[colemanjessenz]

On 21/08/2024 at 06:24, daltontrees said:

I see it being used in topograpic surveys for development sites (DTMs). A colleague fantasises about it being able to mark the posiitons and measure the heights. crown spreads and stem diameters of all the trees on  a site, but I'm not sure it's realistic or cost effective (yet). I got someone to use it in my previous job to create a 3D model of a town centre I was working on.

Hey Jules, yes that's a great way to use the tech. 

what your college is thinking about  is actually what I've been using it for. I have been testing this on a big block of pine trees that are scoped to be heli lifted out (I will attach some photos of how it can be presented).

I worked with a local company to compile this data into something useable for us... there were limits as some of the stems weren't completely picked up by the first scan but we have since gone back and have corrected these with a more thorough scan.

 

I can share these as the data on this one isn't exact. 

scanning parks would be much easier as there's a huge amount of free space around the trees and the canopies are more defined.

[daltontrees]

Can it really determine diameter to 1mm precision and height to 0.1m?

[colemanjessenz]

3 minutes ago, daltontrees said:

Can it really determine diameter to 1mm precision and height to 0.1m?

No, we aren't there yet Jules haha.

I don't think anything out there is that precise. It is however accurate to 4cm on vertical and 5 cm for horizontal.

 

The measurements above are what has been extracted from the point cloud, these measurements fall under those accuracy parameters that I described above. There are multiple other factors that can alter those measurements and that's to do with the clarity of the point cloud and how its processed.

[Mark Bolam]

That’s still mentally accurate Jesse!

 

How does the weight calculation work?

Surely that would fluctuate seasonally?

[colemanjessenz]

2 hours ago, Mark Bolam said:

That’s still mentally accurate Jesse!

 

How does the weight calculation work?

Surely that would fluctuate seasonally?

 

Hey Mark, With Pinus radiata it’s pretty consistent. Our green weight for this species has been used frequently in the last three years.  It’s a specific type of growth and situation which makes them a different weight to a regular forestry pine.  Spring time we would expect to see a small bump up in weight but we have buffers which account for this anyway. 
 

with Mac’s Its still 50/50 if it’s going to be bone dry and light as a match stick or way too heavy 😂 

[Mark J]

@colemanjessenzDo you use your own drone or do you hire someone in to do that bit?

 

LIDAR is something I've had my eye on for a while.  What you have posted is exactly the kind of thing I had in mind. 

[Jon Heuch]

I haven't checked the coverage of all of the UK but the EA (Environment Agency) has LIDAR surveyed England as far as I know. Data is freely available I think but I haven't checked. I use the results (via a contractor) to get height estimates on a 3x3m grid of many of the sites I attend. It's useful but not infallible. Without a topo it can provide a slope profile of the site. It doesn't measure individual trees, it measures what it finds (so one tree with a large crown may produce more than one estimate). Since I visit the sites with the LIDAR analysis I can check tree heights against those shown. If the ground is flat that helps. If it is sloping be warned there can be discrepancies. Winter (leafless) v summer (in leaf) also can lead to issues.

 

For general scanning of tree height over significant areas and inaccessible/difficult to access rear gardens of hostile neighbours it can fill in missing gaps of info.

 

As for the cost of a useful product, that's dependent on the supplier.

[colemanjessenz]

1 hour ago, Jon Heuch said:

I haven't checked the coverage of all of the UK but the EA (Environment Agency) has LIDAR surveyed England as far as I know. Data is freely available I think but I haven't checked. I use the results (via a contractor) to get height estimates on a 3x3m grid of many of the sites I attend. It's useful but not infallible. Without a topo it can provide a slope profile of the site. It doesn't measure individual trees, it measures what it finds (so one tree with a large crown may produce more than one estimate). Since I visit the sites with the LIDAR analysis I can check tree heights against those shown. If the ground is flat that helps. If it is sloping be warned there can be discrepancies. Winter (leafless) v summer (in leaf) also can lead to issues.

 

For general scanning of tree height over significant areas and inaccessible/difficult to access rear gardens of hostile neighbours it can fill in missing gaps of info.

 

As for the cost of a useful product, that's dependent on the supplier.

We have a national lidar database also but it has the same issues as you described above. I have worked on a tender that used this to pick out trees for a runway clearance.  The deciduous trees were off by anywhere up to five meters as the method of scanning wasn’t picking up on the apical buds but rebounding off bigger branches lower down.  It wasn’t as useful as what they hoped it would be. 
 

the lidar database is accurate to a meter or two (off the top of my head) which is alright for some things but it doesn’t have the accuracy and reliability needed for more specific tasks. It is however a fantastic tool to have available to use as you’ve described above.