Geography and LiDAR II.

Interesting paper from Australia....
mapping of rivers from LiDAR datasets is very popular too....flood risk management.....

OPERATIONAL MAPPING OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITION OF RIPARIAN
ZONES OVER LARGE REGIONS FROM AIRBORNE LIDAR DATA
K. Johansen, L. Arroyo and S. Phinn

"ABSTRACT:
Riparian zones maintain water quality, support multiple geomorphic processes, contain significant biodiversity and also maintain the aesthetics of the landscape. Australian state and national government agencies responsible for managing riparian zones are planning missions for acquiring remotely sensed data covering the main streams in Victoria, New South Wales, and parts of Queensland and South Australia. The objectives of this paper are to: (1) assess the ability of LiDAR data for mapping the environmental condition of riparian zones; and (2) provide specifications for capturing and analyzing the LiDAR data for riparian zone mapping at large spatial extents (> 1000 km of stream length). LiDAR derived digital elevation models, terrain slope, intensity, fractional cover counts and canopy height models were used for mapping riparian condition indicators using simple algorithms and more complex objectoriented image analysis. The results showed that LiDAR data can be used to accurately map: water bodies (producer’s accuracy = 93%); streambed width (Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) = 3.3 m); bank-full width (RMSE = 6.1 m); riparian zone width (RMSE = 7.0 m); width of vegetation (RMSE = 5.6 m); plant projective cover (RMSE = 12%); vegetation height classes (vertical accuracy < r2 =" 0.40)."> 100,000 km of stream length."