How EnviroCapture Uses Spacesium to Quantify Forestry Metrics

Project Description

As the evolution of drones and sensors advances, further development in data processing capabilities is left behind. With that in mind, Spacesium’s partnership with Australian drone operator  MineLiDAR. has been utilizing the full potential of their current lidar technology. Spacesiums tree segmentation algorithms were crucial for  MineLiDAR/EnviroCapture, in particular endeavors focused on carbon farming projects spanning across Australia. In 2023, EnviroCapture engaged in a long relationship to capture lidar scans in the Australian outback with the ultimate goal of developing a streamlined workflow to “capture → process → deliver at scale.”

Data Acquisition from the Air

Drone lidar flights were carried out on small blocks for optimal efficiency.  Each launch consists of a 30-minute flight mission. The state of Western Australia and the Northern Territory covers multiple flight areas across, spanning over 500 flight missions with more than 460GB of processed data - that is a lot of km’s on 4wd tracks with even more take-offs and landings.

The flight plan took a continuous grid-like pattern with parallel flight lines. All scans were taken with the relevant survey ground control points over the entire area.

Achieved Results

Requests for deeper insights from LiDAR and photogrammetry data capture led to this partnership between MineLiDAR and Spacesium. Tree segmentation improved the ability to analyze and report tree canopy areas, segmenting trees according to specific requirements and being able to report parameters of individual trees based on specification in particular.

Time is always an essential requirement for any client. The quick turnaround showed that projects can depend on Spacesium to get quick results to meet or exceed delivery. From initially processing tree segmentation, both Spacesium and MineLiDAR worked hand in hand to use their ground and vegetation as part of a more comprehensive workflow.

It is evident that in order to identify tree segments accurately within the point clouds, both teams of Envirocapture/MineLiDAR and Spacesium combined fine-tuned specific parameters in the algorithms to align with the sensor and land conditions. Customizing these settings resulted in the primary advantage of facilitating the true automation of batching the work through software algorithms.

Advancement of automation and software

“We’ll continue to work with Spacesium on expanding our existing workflow as well as other data processing tools,” says Peter Evans, CEO of MineLiDAR. The ever-improving quality of data is an impressive result of a constantly evolving hardware advancements and data-capturing methods. Harnessing the data landscape requires a sophisticated approach in the forestry and tree projects realm. The organization is empowered to adapt to the changing needs and complexities of forestry management by constructing not only an agile, but a customizable software. This adaptability ensures that providing the highest quality solutions is the top-most priority for forestry and carbon initiatives.

Furthermore, automation of data processing within this framework signifies a transformative element. It creates a scalable processing engine that is capable of handling quantities of data while maintaining strict quality standards. Consistency and reliability across a spectrum of endeavors are eminent with this combination of automation and scalability, aside from streamlining the project workflows.

As a conclusion, the cornerstone of the commitment to excellence in forestry and tree projects of MineLiDAR has been represented by the ingenuity of agile and customizable software together with Spacesium. By leveraging these tools, the demands of the present were not only met but set the foundation for the successful execution of future initiatives - ensuring and thriving the ecosystem for future generations to come.

For more information please contact Peter Evans at MINELiDAR |  | Environcapture LiDAR Scanning Australia | Report