¶ LiDAR processing software
| Company | Remsoft |
| Country | Canada |
| Website | https://remsoft.com/afrids/ |
| Category | Planning & Inventory › Remote sensing & mapping |
¶ Overview
LiDAR processing software encompasses the suite of computational tools used to transform raw point cloud data collected by LiDAR sensors into actionable geospatial products for forestry inventory, terrain analysis, and operational planning. Raw LiDAR data, delivered as LAS or LAZ format point cloud files, requires a processing pipeline that typically includes noise filtering, ground point classification, normalisation to remove terrain influence, and the derivation of canopy height models (CHMs), digital terrain models (DTMs), and digital surface models (DSMs). Leading commercial platforms in this space include Terrasolid (widely used in Scandinavia and globally for airborne LiDAR processing), FUSION/LDV (a USDA Forest Service-developed open-source suite particularly popular in research contexts), and Bentley's ContextCapture and Orbit GIS for integrated point cloud management. In the Australian forestry sector, software such as ENVI LiDAR, Global Mapper, and QTrees has been applied to plantation inventory workflows, enabling automated individual tree segmentation from high-density point clouds using algorithms such as watershed segmentation and region-growing. The extracted tree-level metrics — including height, crown area, crown volume, and stem density — are then input into allometric models calibrated for Australian pine and eucalyptus species to estimate volume and biomass. Increasingly, Python-based open-source libraries such as laspy, PDAL (Point Data Abstraction Library), and lidR (in the R statistical environment) have become standard tools in research and in-house processing workflows, allowing organisations to build custom, reproducible processing pipelines integrated with GIS platforms like QGIS and ArcGIS. Cloud-based processing platforms including AWS and Google Earth Engine now support LiDAR point cloud computation at scale, enabling state-wide or national-level forest inventory products to be generated without the hardware limitations that previously confined large-area processing to specialised computing facilities.
¶ Assessment
Well-suited for protecting forest assets through advanced fire detection and prediction, providing strong risk-reduction value with indirect support for long-term productivity.
¶ Details
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Company | Remsoft |
| Country | Canada |
| Type | Company |
| Available in AU? | NZ office |
| FWPA RD&E | 7.3 |