Published March 16, 2026 | Version v1
Dataset Open

Harmonized terrestrial laser scanning forest dataset: 3D point clouds and tree-level attributes from five campaigns in Europe

Authors/Creators

  • 1. ROR icon Freie Universität Berlin
  • 2. Technische Universität Berlin
  • 3. ROR icon Karlsruhe Institute of Technology
  • 4. ROR icon Norwegian University of Life Sciences
  • 5. The Czech Academy of Sciences, Global Change Research Institute
  • 6. EDMO icon University of Tuscia-Viterbo

Description

This dataset comprises 121 terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) point clouds and derived forest-structure data from five measurement campaigns. Data acquisition, processing, and structure are analogous and directly comparable for all plots. 

Abstract

The main component of each campaign is a set of high-resolution (1 cm) 3D point clouds representing 50 m × 50 m forest plots acquired with a RIEGL VZ-400i terrestrial laser scanner. In addition to the point clouds, each campaign provides standardized supplementary data, including scan position shapefiles, plot boundary polygons, tree-level attribute data (DBH, height, species class), preview images, and a comprehensive metadata overview table.

All five sub-campaigns follow the same acquisition protocol, processing workflow, file structure, and naming convention. Each campaign is published as an individual Zenodo record and can be downloaded separately.

Notes

This dataset is the parent record for terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) point clouds and derived forest structure data from five independent measurement campaigns.

The actual point cloud data can be found in the subrecords for each campaign. 

Table of contents

Dataset structure for this parent record

This parent record combines data from five different campaigns. 
In the parent record only data for filtering and locating the plots is provided. 

Here you find:

1. Overview table (.csv)
•    Structured metadata and derived ecological metrics for all campaigns

2. Plot centers (.shp)
•    Shapefile with center points of the plots

For the actual point cloud data please refer to the Zenodo records for the separate campaigns (see below). 

Dataset structure for each of the linked campaigns

Each campaign consists of the following components:

1. Point clouds (.laz)
•    Registered, filtered, and subsampled (1 cm) TLS point clouds
•    Cropped to 50 m × 50 m plot extent

2. Shapefiles (.shp)
•    Scan positions
•    Plot boundaries
•    Tree positions with DBH, height, and classification

3. Preview images (.png)
•    Isometric visualization of each plot

4. Overview table (.csv)
•    Structured metadata and derived ecological metrics

All components follow a consistent naming scheme based on campaign code and plot ID (format: BB_01). Each campaign is structured identically to ensure cross-campaign comparability.

Data for each campaign can be downloaded separately under the Zenodo record for the campaign.

Notes

The data is published under a CC-BY license. 
When using data from this collection, please cite all of the sources below:

a)    The record of this parent dataset (DOI 10.5281/zenodo.18670608)

b)    The record of the specific campaigns you used data from, those are:
•    BB = Brandenburg, Germany, Dataset DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.18670636
•    CZ = Czechia, Dataset DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.18670739
•    ES = Galicia, Spain, Dataset DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.18846019
•    LP = La Palma, Canary Islands, Spain, Dataset DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.18847411
•    NO = Østlandet, Norway, Dataset DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.18847503

c)    The dataset paper accompanying this dataset (not yet published, will be added here later)

Files

TLS_preview_structure_master_record.png

Files (1.6 MB)

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Additional details

Related works

Has part
Dataset: 10.5281/zenodo.18670636 (DOI)
Dataset: 10.5281/zenodo.18670739 (DOI)
Dataset: 10.5281/zenodo.18846019 (DOI)
Dataset: 10.5281/zenodo.18847411 (DOI)
Dataset: 10.5281/zenodo.18847503 (DOI)