Application of handheld laser scanning technology for forest inventory purposes in the NE Turkey

Abstract

Forest inventory FI is the most challenging stage of forest management and planning process. Therefore, in situ surveys are often reinforced by modern remote sensing RS methods for collecting forestry-related data more efficiently. This study tests a stateof- the-art data collection method for practical use in the Turkish FI system for the first time. To this end, forest sampling plots were conventionally measured to collect dendrometric data from 437 trees in Artvin and Saçınka Forest Enterprises. Then, each plot was scanned using a handheld mobile laser scanning HMLS instrument. Finally, HMLS data were compared against ground measurements via basic FI measures. Based on statistical tests, no apparent differences were found between the two datasets at the plot level P 0.97; P