Lidar2CanopyMetrics

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%% DESCRIPTION
% These scripts calculate forest canopy structure metrics and density from high
% resolution LiDAR point cloud data of forest canopy.


% The scripts that estimate canopy structure metrics relates to research published as
%
% D. Moeser, F. Morsdorf, T. Jonas; Novel forest structure metrics
% from airborne LiDAR data for improved snow interception estimation;
% 2015; Agricultural and Forest Meteorology;
% doi: 10.1016/j.agrformet.2015.04.013
%
% Note: There are three versions of this script:
%
% Version 1.1 [Lidar2CanopyMetrics]
% creates a binarized canopy height raster for each evaluation point separately.
%
% To the contrary, version 1.2 [Lidar2CanopyMetricsAlt]
% creates a binarized canopy height raster encompassing the evaluation
% domain for all evaluation points. As a consequence, version 1.2 is
% quicker but requires more memory. Note however, that version 1.1 creates
% a raster which is centered around the exact coordinate of an evalution point,
% whereas version 1.2 uses
% the nearest available raster cell. Therefor, paramter output from
% both versions of the scripts is not identical, albeit very similar.
% Version 2.0 [Lidar2CanopyMetricsGrid]
% is derived from version 1.2 but gives a gridded output
% instead of point output and allows the user to choose metric(s) of
% interest.
%
%
% Please look at sepcific README file for version of interest:
% 1. README_Lidar2CanopyMetrics.txt
% 2. README_Lidar2CanopyMetricsAlt.txt
% 3. README_Lidar2CanopyMetricsGrid.txt
%
% These packages come with sample DTM and LiDAR data.
% Note that the LIDAR folder is in .zip format due to size.
% If using sample data please ensure folder is unzipped
%%
%%
% The scripts that estimate canopy density metrics relates to research published as
%
% D. Moeser, J. Roubinek, P. Schleppi, F. Morsdorf, T. Jonas;
% Canopy closure, LAI and radiation transfer from airborne LiDAR
% synthetic images; 2014; Agricultural and Forest Meteorology;
% doi: 10.1016/j.agrformet.2014.06.008


% Please look at sepcific README file for version of interest:
% 1. README_Lidar2CanopyMetrics.txt


% NOTE there is another reposiroty available for an updated synthetic image creator @
% https://github.com/Tobias-Jonas-SLF/Lidar2Hemi