Interpine’s TreeTools Online LiDAR Analysis tool has been developed for foresters to use LiDAR data for the purposes of quick efficient forest inventory insights for the purposes of planning silvicultural information.
What problem are we trying to solve?
- How can we prescribe a better pre-thinning directive for thinning operators?
- How could this information be easily made available to the thinning operators onsite to make effective management intervention?
- Reduce the costs of pre-assessment and quality assurance operations.
- Remove technical hurdles and roadblocks to get useful technology into the hands of foresters to enhance optimal decision making.
And taking this a step further, How can we use drones to better provide information to manage thinning operations in real time? by using TreeTools VirtualPlot for onsite real-time feedback to operations.
This project has been developed with funding assistance from the Precision Silviculture Programme, A Sustainable Food and Fibre Futures (SFFF) partnership between MPI and the forest industry led by Forest Growers Research. This is freely available during the development funding to provide for industry feedback.
What’s New
The latest software release notes and feature availability is shown below.
| Version | Release Notes |
|---|---|
| Beta (Jan-Jun 2025) | Under currently development and release, check back soon. |
| Alpha V1 (1/1/24) | Initial release for key stakeholders testing and feedback |
Preparing LiDAR Data for Upload
TreeTools online requires two key inputs. These being LiDAR data across the area to be analyzed, and a boundary polygon for the area of interest you wish to get analyzed and a forest inventory summary for.
Data is uploaded to TreeTools as a compressed zip file (*.zip). This will includes the LiDAR point cloud and a polygon ESRI shape file of the area of interest to be analyzed, this would typically be a stand boundary.
For the purposes of this tutorial, we will use this stand which is due a pre-thinning assessment to schedule, and budget the upcoming silviculture operation.
Download Free LiDAR Data from Open Topography
New Zealand has a national LiDAR collection program which makes available free data across the country. This is a good place to start if you have not got your own LiDAR data yet. You can source this LiDAR from Open Topography to use with TreeTools Online.
Follow the video below to locate and extract the LiDAR point cloud for the forest stand. In this example, we discover that the area has two available public datasets. We select the latest dataset to ensure the most current information. While we only need the *.laz file, you may also choose to download additional outputs, including a quick 3D visualization available within the browser to see the LiDAR coverage over the stand.
Once ready, Open Topography will provide you with a link to the Lidar point cloud file as a “points.laz” file.
If you choose to review the 3D visualization of the point cloud, you will be able to assess the quality of the point data and appreciate its usefulness for analysis.
Upload LiDAR Data for Processing
Enter you email address and select the compressed zip file to upload to TreeTools for processing. TreeTools is expecting a zip file containing an ESRI shape file and the point cloud LAZ file as outlined above. Once the file has been uploaded you will receive an email confirmation the analysis job has been received.
Results and Outputs
Once data is processed you will get an email to download the products from the analysis. These will be available for a period of 7 days before they are deleted from the server.
Come back soon and we will be updating this tutorial with more information.
Further Support
For support use our contact form to reach out. Thanks for using TreeTools VirtualPlot. Follow us for more detail on our product page.