Potencial de la tecnología LiDAR como soporte para estudios ambientales en Colombia

Abstract

The present study evaluates the potential of LiDAR technology for cartographic surveying applied to environmental studies in Colombia, based on a review of the main cartographic products derived from LiDAR data acquisition, the environmental components of the Colombian MGEPEA that have been analyzed using this technology, and its most relevant applications, showing that airborne laser scanning (ALS) is the most widely used approach (65% of the studies reviewed), mainly for the generation of Digital Elevation Models (DEMs), as well as the existence of specialized products such as the Digital Outcrop Model (DOM) for geological and geomorphological studies and the Canopy Height Model (CHM) for forest applications; additionally, it was found that flora is the most studied environmental component using LiDAR and that the abiotic environment is the most frequently analyzed medium, with key technical variables including point density, sensor model, flight altitude, frequency, and wavelength, while the main environmental applications focus on forest inventory, land cover identification, and the analysis of changes in terrain geoforms