These presentations and R Notebooks were developed to:
- Teach basic principles of lidar remote sensing, with a focus on airborne laser scanning (ALS)
- Outline important considerations in using airborne laser scanning (ALS) data for forest biomass surveys
- Demonstrate how these considerations should factor into the design and implementation of data processing workflows
- Introduce upcoming spaceborne lidar mission data products and their potential applications
This flow diagram provides an overview of the workflow and associated R Notebook exercises.
The presentation are intended to provide background and examples for each of the exercises.
| Description | Presentation | Exercises |
|---|---|---|
| Session 1A: Lidar principles | Google Slides | |
| Session 1B: Lidar applications | Google Slides | |
| Session 2: ALS processing workflows | Google Slides | Exercises 2A & 2B |
| Session 3: In situ biomass estimation | Google Slides | Exercise 3 |
| Session 4: Empirical biomass modelling | Google Slides | Exercises 4 & 5 |
| Session 6: Spaceborne lidar examples | Google Slides |
The exercises are provided in HTML and R Notebook format. Exercises 2A and 2B can be used with both the Kenya and Ghana pilot area ALS datasets, but users need to follow instructions within the R Notebook to change paths to input files where applicable.
| Description | R Notebook | Source Code |
|---|---|---|
| Exercise 2A: QA/QC and manipulation of ALS point cloud files | R Notebook (HTML) | R Markdown (Rmd) |
| Exercise 2B: ALS point clouds to basic canopy image products | R Notebook (HTML) | R Markdown (Rmd) |
| Exercise 3: Processing tree survey data to aboveground biomass | R Notebook (HTML) | R Markdown (Rmd) |
| Exercise 4: Aboveground biomass modelling from ALS data | R Notebook (HTML) | R Markdown (Rmd) |
| Exercise 5: Generating aboveground biomass and carbon maps | R Notebook (HTML) | R Markdown (Rmd) |
See the table below to identify which files need to be downloaded and then unzipped to your working directory for each exercise.
| File | Exercises | Description |
|---|---|---|
| ghana_alsfiles_metadata.zip | Exercises 2A & 2B (Ghana) | ALS files and metadata provided by the Ghana Forestry Commission |
| 127500_9992500.las | Exercises 2A & 2B (Kenya) | Example 2.5 x 2.5 km LAS tile provided by RCMRD in Kenya |
| gabon_field_treedata.zip | Exercise 3 | Tree level plot inventory data from AfriSAR campaign in Gabon |
| afrisar_trainingdata_servir.csv | Exercise 4 | Plot level plot inventory data from AfriSAR campaign in Gabon |
| gabon_biomass_models.zip | Exercise 5 | R model object files output from Exercise 4 |
| lvis_gabon_image_files.zip | Exercise 5 | Tiled LVIS canopy height and cover image data products |
John Armston ([email protected])
Laura Duncanson ([email protected])