The ground under the trees, measured
Bare-earth terrain for roads and landings, canopy height for stand work, current imagery for block layout and measured log yard inventory, from drone LiDAR and photogrammetry.
Why forestry needs LiDAR, not photos
On Vancouver Island almost every commercially useful block is under canopy, and canopy is what defeats most aerial survey. Satellite and photo mapping see the tops of trees; a photogrammetric surface under a forest is a guess. Provincial base mapping is coarse and often old.
A LiDAR pulse that finds a gap in the canopy comes back from the forest floor. A multi-return sensor records canopy and ground in the same pass, and classification separates them. The result is a measured terrain model of ground no one has walked, and a canopy height model of the stand on top of it, from one flight. See drone LiDAR.
What forestry clients order
- Bare-earth terrain for road and landing layout: benches, draws, rock and grade breaks at a resolution that lets a road be laid out on what is actually there.
- Block imagery and layout: a current orthomosaic and terrain for block boundaries, area and planning submissions, dated to the flight.
- Canopy height and stand structure: surface minus terrain, for stand assessment and treatment priorities.
- Regeneration and silviculture support: high-resolution imagery, repeated across seasons to show response over time.
- Drainage input: terrain from which flow paths and likely channels can be modelled for your forest professional.
- Log and chip yard inventory: pile volumes measured to a surface on your reconciliation schedule. See stockpile volumes.
Roads are where the flight earns its cost
A road designed on measured terrain needs less re-staking in the field, avoids the grade problems that only show up once a machine is on the hill, and gives a firmer cost estimate before money is committed. That is usually where a LiDAR flight repays itself first.
Who uses the data
Forest professional
- They need from you
- Terrain and imagery they can rely on for determinations that need their seal.
- You need from them
- Their specification and coordinate system.
- On the DroneLink record
- We supply the data; the professional determinations stay with them. Subcontract arrangements are common.
Road engineer
- They need from you
- A bare-earth surface dense enough for alignment and grade.
- You need from them
- The corridor and the accuracy they design to.
- On the DroneLink record
- LiDAR ground class, delivered as a surface and contours in their software. See accuracy.
Licensee or tenure holder
- They need from you
- A current, dated record of the block.
- You need from them
- Access and the block boundary.
- On the DroneLink record
- Imagery and terrain on one project record, repeated as the block changes.
Questions
Can a drone see the ground through a forest?
LiDAR can, through the gaps in the canopy, and classification separates the ground returns from the trees. Photogrammetry cannot; it only sees the surface of the canopy.
How big a block can be flown?
It depends on terrain, access and the airspace. Remote tenures and large programmes are planned as multi-day work, with travel stated in the quote.
Is the data a legal survey?
No. It is for information and planning. Boundary and legal plan work belongs to a British Columbia Land Surveyor.
Keep reading
Tell us about your Miami site.
An address and what you need is enough to start. We reply with what it will take, who will fly it and when.