Hey Droners,

I have a question about measuring tree height in dense rainforest using drone-mounted LIDAR. We have a Matrice 300 in my laboratory, where we use it on research involving collecting the tippy-tips of tall trees. It's a miracle-- it gets done in minutes safely what used to take us days with all the risks involved in climbing tall trees in remote locations.

Here at my institute in Mexico, we oversee several protected areas of dense rainforest on rugged terrain. For various reasons, we need to identify the tallest trees in our parcels of land. Doing this on foot is extremely time-consuming and it's hard to know if you have thoroughly canvassed an area. I am wondering if we could use our Matrice to help locate candidate tallest trees. We would then visit the candidate trees and measure them directly.

Unfortunately, our remaining rainforest patches aren't large, but the terrain is rugged and getting into them is a whole expedition. We would need to cover maybe a square kilometer using LIDAR every 6 months or so. We are hoping to find trees >80 meters (>250 feet) tall in some of the steeper and more inaccessible canyons protected from winds.

Would the Matrice lend itself to this? We can get up to the edges of most of our rainforest patches on dirt roads or in pastures, so launching into them should be doable. Any suggestions on whether this would be feasible, and if so, what gear and software you would recommend? Thanks

Hey Droners,

I have a question about measuring tree height in dense rainforest using drone-mounted LIDAR. We have a Matrice 300 in my laboratory, where we use it on research involving collecting the tippy-tips of tall trees. It's a miracle-- it gets done in minutes safely what used to take us days with all the risks involved in climbing tall trees in remote locations.

Here at my institute in Mexico, we oversee several protected areas of dense rainforest on rugged terrain. For various reasons, we need to identify the tallest trees in our parcels of land. Doing this on foot is extremely time-consuming and it's hard to know if you have thoroughly canvassed an area. I am wondering if we could use our Matrice to help locate candidate tallest trees. We would then visit the candidate trees and measure them directly.

Unfortunately, our remaining rainforest patches aren't large, but the terrain is rugged and getting into them is a whole expedition. We would need to cover maybe a square kilometer using LIDAR every 6 months or so. We are hoping to find trees >80 meters (>250 feet) tall in some of the steeper and more inaccessible canyons protected from winds.

Would the Matrice lend itself to this? We can get up to the edges of most of our rainforest patches on dirt roads or in pastures, so launching into them should be doable. Any suggestions on whether this would be feasible, and if so, what gear and software you would recommend? Thanks