LiDAR Canopy Structure and Topography in Malaysian Borneo

LiDAR-derived canopy structure and topography maps cover the SAFE Project area, Maliau Conservation Area, and Danum Valley in Malaysian Borneo. The dataset includes 10 m resolution digital terrain models, 1 m resolution canopy height models, and 20 m resolution plant area density profiles and statistics, produced from a 2014 airborne survey. It supports research on forest biomass change, funded by the UK Natural Environment Research Council.

Use Cases

• Modeling above-ground carbon density based on canopy height and gap fraction at 1 ha resolution.
• Analyzing vertical forest structure using 20 m resolution plant area density (PAD) and plant area index (PAI) rasters.
• Assessing terrain and ground elevation with 10 m resolution digital terrain models (DTM).
• Studying canopy height variability and gaps using 1 m resolution pit-free canopy height model (CHM) rasters.
• Evaluating data quality for ground detection in dense forests using reported point density metrics.

Strengths

• Provides multi-resolution raster products (1m, 10m, 20m, 1ha) derived from a consistent 2014 airborne LiDAR survey.
• Includes a direct measure of data quality through reported point density, which indicates reliability for ground detection.
• Covers three distinct and important conservation areas in Malaysian Borneo, enabling comparative studies.

Limitations

• Key metadata such as row count, file size, specific column names, and exact last update date are unavailable across all sources.
• The dataset's spatial extent is described but its total area in square kilometers is not quantified.
• Relies on a single survey year (2014), limiting temporal analysis of change.

Provenance

Source

Natural Environment Research Council Airborne Research Facility survey, processed by Tom Swinfield (University of Cambridge).

Collection Method

Airborne LiDAR survey; georeferenced point clouds were tiled, noise removed, and ground points classified using Lastools to produce normalized rasters.

Time Range

2014

Geography

SAFE Project area, Maliau Conservation Area, and Danum Valley in Malaysian Borneo.