Comprehensive quantitative tree models from TLS data

We present comprehensive and quantitative tree models reconstructed from terrestrial laser scanning data. The tree models consist of large number of cylinders whose location, size, and orientation locally approximate the geometry of the tree. The parent-child relations of the cylinders also record the topological branching structure of the tree. The modeling process is automatic and scale-independent. When the tree model is computed once, it can be used to compute tree attributes, such as branch size distributions and taper functions, without the need to revisit the original dataset. The model is also compact, achieving a hundred- to thousandfold data size compression compared to the original dataset. We present also a validation of the model using generated tree models and examples of models from measurements of actual trees.