Detailed reproduction of three-dimensional crown shape and foliage distribution of trees in an urban area using high-resolution airborne LiDAR

This study examines the accuracy of the tree crown shape and crown structure (i.e., the distribution of foliage and branches) derived from airborne LiDAR for an urban district. First, airborne LiDAR points distributed on the crown surface were extracted. The spatial accuracy of these points was then verified using terrestrial LiDAR data. Next, the point cloud of the crown was divided into voxels. The voxels that included one or more points were then extracted as areas in which foliage or branches were distributed. The accuracy of the distribution of the extracted voxels was verified by a comparison with the distribution derived from the terrestrial LiDAR. The foliage density of the voxels that were not identified by the airborne LiDAR data was also evaluated.