Evaluation and testing of standardized forest vegetation metrics derived from lidar data

The USGS 3D Elevation Program (3DEP) is managing the acquisition of lidar data across the Nation for high resolution mapping of the land surface, useful for multiple applications. Lidar data is initially collected as 3-dimensional “point clouds” that map the interaction of the airborne laser with earth surface features, including vegetation, buildings, and ground features. Generally the product of interest has been high resolution digital elevation models generated by filtering the point cloud for laser returns that come from the ground surface and removing returns from vegetation, buildings, powerlines, and other above ground features. However, there is a wealth of information in the full point cloud on vegetation structure that is [...]