Utilizing 360° photography and virtual reality to analyze forest habitat structure following a major hurricane

Many forestry studies rely on obtaining measurements on forest structure, canopy cover, tree density, and other variables through the use of manual labor which is time-consuming, expensive, and labor-intensive, especially when following a major hurricane. Here we propose utilizing 360° photography and virtual reality as a new suitable method and alternative to traditional forest inventories to enable the rapid collection of forest habitat and structure variables in recently hurricane-impacted areas.

In this paper, we present our methods from the Forests After Florence project as a case study in conducting forest/habitat analysis utilizing images from a 360° camera analyzed using a virtual reality headset. We found this new method to be effective in the analysis of forest habitat and structure variables following a hurricane and this technique would be more time-efficient and beneficial for researchers in a time crunch as well as community members in impacted areas. This is especially true in urban settings where damage is cleaned up relatively quickly. By utilizing this technique, researchers can conduct rapid surveys and obtain photos over a large study area in a short period of time and subsequently analyze forest structure variables virtually.