Forest stand delineation from lidar point-clouds using local maxima of the crown height model and region merging of the corresponding Voronoi cells

Abstract

In this study, a novel automatic forest stand segmentation method based on Voronoi cells and Airborne Laser Scanner data was developed and validated using a systematic grid of field plots. The automatic method produce results comparable to manual stand delineation.

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Professor Håkan Olsson for asking us to consider the areas around the local maxima leading to the idea of using Voronoi cells.

Funding

This study was financed by the foundation of Skogssällskapet. The field data and the ALS data were financed by the Hildur and Sven Wingquist foundation.