Accuracy of forest inventory using airborne laser scanning: evaluating the first nordic full-scale operational project

This research reports the major results from an evaluation of the first Nordic operational stand-based forest inventory using airborne laser scanner data. Laser data from a forest area of 250 km2 were used to predict six biophysical stand variables used in forest planning. The predictions were based on regression equations estimated from 250 m2 field training plots distributed systematically throughout the forest area. Test plots with an approximate size of 0.1–0.4 ha were used for validation. The testing revealed standard deviations between ground-truth values and predicted values of 0.36–1.37 m (1.9–7.6%) for mean height, 0.70–1.55 m (3.0–7.6%) for dominant height, 2.38–4.88 m2 ha−1 (7.8–14.2%) for basal area and 13.9–45.9 m3 ha−1 (6.5–13.4%) for stand volume. No serious bias was detected.