Project FE3: Mobile terrestrial laser scanning of NSW native forests

In 2021, mobile terrestrial LiDAR data and ground-based measurements of forest structure were collected across 15 native forest plots in coastal NSW as part of a small pilot program. Typically, this kind of information must be collected manually, which is time consuming and expensive.

Captured using LiDAR remote sensing, the data from this trial was able to be captured in around 10 minutes. This provides detailed information on forest structure in remote and inaccessible settings to help improve forest management.

The pilot has generated a valuable source of information that could be used to conduct further research and development of forest measurement metrics, particularly to explore the use of artificial intelligence to automate extraction of additional forest variables.

This data has now been made publicly available through the TERN data discovery portal. In line with our open data policy, we encourage the scientific community to take a look.

This article and short video provide an overview of how the LiDAR data were captured.

Data

The report, methods and project data is available on the TERN data discovery portal.