Skip to main content
Home / Photogrammetric Engineering & Remote Sensing, Number 9 / September 2014

Open Access Generating Pit-free Canopy Height Models from Airborne Lidar

Download Article:
Canopy height models (CHMs) derived from lidar data have been applied to extract forest inventory parameters. However, variations in modeled height cause data pits, which form a challenging problem as they disrupt CHM smoothness, negatively affecting tree detection and subsequent biophysical measurements. These pits appear where laser beams penetrate deeply into a tree crown, hitting a lower branch or the ground before producing the first return. In this study, we develop a new algorithm that generates a pit-free CHM raster, by using subsets of the lidar points to close pits. The algorithm operates robustly on high-density lidar data as well as on a thinned lidar dataset. The evaluation involves detecting individual trees using the pit-free CHM and comparing the findings to those achieved by using a Gaussian smoothed CHM. The results show that our pit-free CHMs derived from high-and low-density lidar data significantly improve the accuracy of tree detection.

Document Type: Research Article

Publication date: 01 September 2014

More about this publication?
  • The official journal of the American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing - the Imaging and Geospatial Information Society (ASPRS). This highly respected publication covers all facets of photogrammetry and remote sensing methods and technologies.

    Founded in 1934, the American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ASPRS) is a scientific association serving over 7,000 professional members around the world. Our mission is to advance knowledge and improve understanding of mapping sciences to promote the responsible applications of photogrammetry, remote sensing, geographic information systems (GIS), and supporting technologies.
  • Editorial Board
  • Information for Authors
  • Submit a Paper
  • Subscribe to this Title
  • Membership Information
  • Information for Advertisers
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Ingenta Connect is not responsible for the content or availability of external websites

Share Content

  • Access Key
  • Free content
  • Partial Free content
  • New content
  • Open access content
  • Partial Open access content
  • Subscribed content
  • Partial Subscribed content
  • Free trial content