Accurate tree canopy maps enable targeted management strategies in Canberra.

In the leafy streets of a city like Canberra, a strong understanding of natural resources will prove invaluable for overcoming the challenges of climate change, sustainability and community expectations.

Transport Canberra and City Services (TCCS) recently engaged 1Spatial to analyse and extract aerial laser scanning data to accelerate the process of establishing baseline data for Canberra’s urban tree canopy coverage.

The resulting case study features TCCS and Safe Software’s FME custom workflow for canopy mapping. Using the method established, informative and current data sets can now be used to inform management strategies by overlaying age, density and condition data and proposing future canopy density targets.

The establishment of current baseline data for Canberra’s urban tree canopy coverage was essential to the program. In this respect, two data sets were available: a 2010 ground-based audit of trees in streets, verge areas, open spaces and parks; and new aerial laser scanning LiDAR (Light Detection And Ranging) data for the majority of urban areas across Canberra.

Read more here.

This story first appeared in Spatial Source.