This report documents the accuracy and efficiency of differential GPS (DGPS) when it is applied in forest environments. The report contains research results obtained from using DGPS for forest-stand boundary surveys conducted in hardwood forests in a mountainous region. Reported also is the result of a cost-effectiveness analysis that contrasts the satellite-based DGPS positioning and the conventional land-based compass-and-chain surveys. The study found that (1) both forest canopy and undulating terrain in mountainous regions would exert a definite effect on DGPS traverse surveys but neither would reduce stand area determination accuracy; (2) in general, static DGPS was more accurate but less productive than the kinematic DGPS when accuracy and cost were weighted equally; (3) inaccurate two-dimensional position determinations degraded positioning accuracy in either the kinematic or static positioning mode; and (4) kinematic DGPS traverse was a cost-effective survey technique capable of achieving closer forest stand area approximation than the compass-and-chain traverse.
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Liu et al. (1995) studied this question.