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Three-dimensional Forest growth simulation in virtual geographic environments

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Abstract

Virtual geographic environments related to dynamic processes contribute to a human understanding of the real world. The results of growth simulations provide good estimations of the future status of forests, but they are typically expressed in plain text summaries, tables or static displays, making it difficult to analyse, understand and further apply the forecast data. The objectives of this study were to propose a strategy for integrating a three-dimensional (3D) geographic environment with growth models and to develop a 3D stand visualization software prototype. Forest growth increments were predicted using the growth models, whereas stand dynamics were simulated using detailed tree models to recognize the changes in the branch whorls and height of individual trees. The spatial structure of the stand was represented by linking each tree diameter class to a spatial distribution according to the features of a Voronoi diagram. The stand visualization system VisForest, which allows users to predict increments in the diameter and height of trees, was extended to estimate the number of trees in each diameter class and to visualize many aspects of a forest stand, e.g., individual tree structure, stem diameter at breast height (DBH, i.e., 1.3 m) distribution and height. The software system provides a specialized, intuitive tool for the visualization of a stand, thus facilitating the participation of various stakeholders in management and education.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by The National Key Research and Development Program of China (Grant No. 2018YFB1004905). The authors thank the staff of Baisha Forest Farm for their help with plot inventory and the other members of our research group for their assistance with the development of the system.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Engineering Research Centre of Geospatial Information Technology, Key Laboratory of Spatial Data Mining & Information Sharing of MOE, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou, China

    Liyu Tang, Xianmin Peng, Chongcheng Chen, Hongyu Huang & Ding Lin

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  1. Liyu Tang
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  2. Xianmin Peng
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  3. Chongcheng Chen
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  4. Hongyu Huang
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  5. Ding Lin
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Correspondence to Liyu Tang.

Additional information

Communicated by: H. A. Babaie

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Tang, L., Peng, X., Chen, C. et al. Three-dimensional Forest growth simulation in virtual geographic environments. Earth Sci Inform 12, 31–41 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12145-018-0356-4

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