LIDAR Data Verification System
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The remote sensing of biomes has come a long way, thanks to advances in detection,
modelling, mapping, and analysis. These improvements have led to a greater understanding
of ecosystems, our role within them, and their processes. From passive two-dimensional
techniques like aerial or satellite photogrammetry, we've progressed to more human-intuitive,
three- or four-dimensional techniques such as light detection and ranging (lidar), a
technology that has been around since the 1960s...
The remote sensing of biomes has come a long way, thanks to advances in
detection, modelling, mapping, and analysis. These improvements have led
to a greater understanding of ecosystems, our role within them, and their
processes. From passive two-dimensional techniques like aerial or
satellite photogrammetry, we've progressed to more human-intuitive, three-
or four-dimensional techniques such as light detection and ranging
(lidar), a technology that has been around since the 1960s. Lidar has been
instrumental in improving our understanding of a wide range of processes
at scales previously unavailable. For example, it's commonly used for
accurate terrain mapping, important for the understanding of watercourse
sediment as a driver of ecological function. Lidar is also used to
estimate above-ground biomass (AGB), which is crucial to understanding
nutrient and elemental cycling processes. However, with the potential
importance of lidar data to ecological and other sciences still in its
infancy, it's important to verify and validate the raw data being used.
This 'cutting edge' is where Predict Ecology and Metastreme excel. Predict
Ecology is an ecological and spatial data science company. They provide
tools and services to help scientists, conservationists, and land managers
make more informed decisions. Their focus is on creating tools that bridge
the gap between the collection of data and decision-making. They
incorporate real-world data collection, processing, machine learning, and
visualization, enabling users to unlock insights from large, complex
datasets. Predict Ecology is committed to making data more transparent,
accessible, and auditable to all stakeholders. Metastreme is a software
company that develops tools for data auditing and high-throughput
blockchain integration. They specialize in creating blockchain data and
verification solutions for complex problems. Metastreme's software
platform provides powerful tools for the verification and integration of
your data to blockchain. Together, Predict Ecology and Metastreme have
created an experiment that validates and verifies open-source lidar data
at the point level, allowing auditable and transparent data processing
pipelines to be developed. The data we're presenting is a 36km² area of
tropical savanna within the Herbert River catchment in Far North
Queensland, Australia. It was collected by the Queensland Government in
2018 and 2021. We have processed the raw data into 2.6 million Merkel
trees of 4 x 4m grids with verifiable proofs to the point level. We have
already derived some products from it, and more will be released in time.
In the meantime, we invite you to explore this open-source data and have
fun!