Application of LiDAR to measuring changes in mountain trail width over two periods

Abstract

In recent years, comprehensive monitoring-based management has been required to ensure sustainability in areas where the natural environment is used as a tourist resource, in response to the issue of overtourism. In particular, hiking trails have seen an increase in users due to the hiking boom and are being used for ecotours, but there are concerns about negative impacts on the natural environment, such as the decline of vegetation due to trampling, and there are still issues regarding a lack of managers and monitoring. In this study, we applied LiDAR, which has been utilized in various fields in recent years, to the primary screening of long-term changes in hiking trails to measure vegetation dynamics. Taking the hiking trail along the Urauchi River on Iriomote Island as the target, we overlaid 3D point cloud data from two periods and calculated the differences in width. As a result, we were able to visualize areas where width had changed, demonstrating the applicability of this method.