Now for the decision of tasks of monitoring and evaluation of forest plantations the use of methods and means of laser scanning is one of the most act-sexual and priorities. Laser scanning can be performed independently, or in combination with digital aerial and space photos and video, and can also be carried out ground research on the sample areas. A number of indicators laser scanning is superior to other, currently known, remote evaluation methods qualitative and quantitative characteristics of the forest Fund Laser scanning of forest cover based on the use of modern tech-nologies of digital photogrammetry and geoinformation systems, as well as methods of digital processing and multidimensional modeling of the reflected signals. The article provides analysis of modern methods and means of aerial and terrestrial laser scanning of forest stands. The use of air-borne laser scanning will allow achieving high precision in the determination of basic inventory pa-rameters that are comparable to land-based taxation. Main advantages of laser ranging to other me-thods of monitoring of forest plantations is that the laser beam is able to penetrate the forest canopy, thereby scanning all the tiers of the stand. High density scanning (5-10 points per 1 m2) allows ob-taining three-dimensional images of individual trees with high accuracy. The obtained three-dimensional model requires no processing, unlike aerospace methods of remote sensing that are as-sociated with long and arduous races-encryption of the images. Terrestrial laser scanning, in fact, similar to traditional photogrammetric methods, but it allows you to get the coordinates from one point of standing with the possibility of control measurements directly in the field, while providing higher measurement accuracy, compared with photogrammetric methods.
Testing the Application of Terrestrial Laser Scanning to Measure Forest Canopy Gap Fraction