The project’s objective is to develop methodologies for the geographic data collection and processing of forest landscape and forest ecosystems through mobile geoinformation technologies. Innovative geoinformation technology use will be experimentally tested in the University forest enterprise of TU Zvolen. We will propose and test methods to derive a comprehensive geographic information for forest land description using inertial navigation systems, terrestrial photogrammetry, mobile laser scanning and unmanned aerial vehicle. We will develop and verify the processing procedure of geographic data from mobile devices taking into account the specific characteristics of forest lands, needs of forestry research and practice.
Obtained detailed and accurate geographic data will be used to derive digital models of surfaces, tree identification, derivation of tree characteristics, mapping of forest, road networks, water streams and so on. The usage of mobile technologies will increase the data collection efficiency.
Scientific objectives
The main objective of the project is a theoretical elaborate and practical verify geographic data innovative collection methods and processing of forest land and forest ecosystems using modern geo-information technologies and practices. Methodologies will be designed and validated for the collection, processing, storage, and data integration of advanced mobile geo-information resources for data collection, including optical and laser sensors carried by a person placed on the vehicle or UAVs. Simultaneously the possibility of positioning within a forest by inertial navigation systems and GNSS will be validated.
We will construct and test mobile photogrammetric multi-camera system designed for efficient image collection for the close range photogrammetry. Images will be used to generate point clouds and observe the current forest land and forest ecosystems condition.
We will design and verify the procedures of data processing from mobile geographic information technologies and derivation processes of geographic information on forest land. The possibility of using new data sources to derive digital elevation models and digital surface models of forest stands with very high resolution, digital models of individual trees and use of the geospatial data for mapping objects and phenomena in the forest landscape, such as micro relief, forest roads, sidewalks, and forest streams will be examined.
Developed methods for geographic data collection of forest land will be practically verified in selected research plots. Progressive geoinformation technologies and processing procedures of geographic data from new sources will be experimentally tested in heterogeneous forest conditions.
Acknowledgements
The research project was supported by the Scientific Grant Agency of the Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sport of the Slovak Republic and the Slovak Academy of Sciences under the grant VEGA 1/0881/17.