Vegetation Height Model NFI

We used the stereo aerial images acquired by the Federal Office of Topography swisstopo using the ADS80 sensor to first calculate a digital surface model (DSM) with a very high spatial resolution (1 × 1 m and 0.5 x 0.5 m). The DSM was then normalized to obtain the actual vegetation heights using a digital terrain model (DTM) based on laser data with the buildings masked out, and to produce a vegetation height model (VHM).

Such a model will be calculated in the framework of the Swiss National Forest Inventory (NFI) with consistent methods and a very high level of detail. For covering the whole of Switzerland, we use summer aerial images from six years. Latest version is from 2019.