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Description
Traditional forest measurement techniques which are carried out using calipers and diameter tapes are accurate but they require a lot of manual work in large scale operations. The recent advancements in mobile LiDAR technology which can be installed in consumer-grade devices like smartphones and tablets have introduced new possibilities of quick and remote tree measurement. ForestScanner and Arboreal are two major tree measurement applications based on the in-built LiDAR sensor in Apple devices which are used to approximate the diameter at breast height (DBH) using point cloud-based circle reconstruction techniques. The mathematical comparison of such tree measurement applications in similar field operation environments is still inadequate.
This study compares ForestScanner and Arboreal in the measurement of DBH in natural mixed forest stands at Muratdere Forest Enterprise Chief, Bursa Province, northwestern Turkey. Distribution of natural stands of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) and Uludag fir (Abies nordmanniana subsp. bornmuelleriana Mattf.) is between the elevations of 871 to 1578 m. Three methods were used to measure 500 trees in 20 sample plots: (1) a traditional diameter tape as a reference, (2) the ForestScanner application and (3) the Arboreal application. To eliminate any variations in hardware, the two mobile LiDAR applications were operated on a similar iPad device with a LiDAR sensor, and the differences observed were due to the software algorithms.
Pearson correlation coefficient, R squared, MAE, RMSE, bias and MAPE will be used to evaluate accuracy. Paired t-test analysis will be used to compare the methods. We also compare the method efficiency by recording the total measurement time per sample plot using each method. Our previous research in this area showed that ForestScanner is highly accurate in DBH estimation (r = 0.990, RMSE = 1.49 cm, MAPE = 2.82%) and 65% reduction in time compared to the traditional measurement. The current study extends this work by introducing Arboreal and directly comparing both tools under identical conditions. Particular attention will be given to how application-specific algorithms influence accuracy across tree species, diameter classes, and topographic conditions. The research aims to offer practical guidance to the forestry professionals who would like to integrate mobile LiDAR tools in their measurement process.
| Keywords | LiDAR; DBH; ForestScanner; Arboreal |
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