Evaluation of the quality of the altimetric information derivate of the laserscanning in a region covered for vegetation: case study.

Abstract

Airborne laser scanner is an innovative technique for the determination of digital terrain models and has been object of study in the several places of the world in the last years. It is a fast option for topographic data collecting, mainly in places where the application of conventional techniques, like photogrammetry, is restricted because of partial occlusions, as it happens in forested areas. In such cases, an algorithm for virtual vegetation removal is used, producing a digital terrain model. The methods to filter airborne laser scanner data are still being developed, which means that a general solution is still under research. The success of the existing algorithms depend on the characteristics of the region. The subject of this study was to evaluate the altimetric information derived from an airborne laser scanner, in a forested area in Paraná State, Brazil. Therefore, airborne laser scanner data and products were compared to a reference digital terrain model obtained by a topography survey.