OpenForest4D Computational Notebooks
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CHM_lidar_pc_lidR_v1.ipynb - This R notebook processes airborne using the lidR package to generate essential forestry and ecology products. The workflow produces Canopy Height Models (CHM), smoothed CHMs, gridded canopy metrics, individual tree detections with convex hulls, and crown-level measurements.
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forest_canopy_gap_detection_CHM.ipynb - This R notebook reads a canopy height model (CHM) raster dataset, detects forest canopy gaps based on a height threshold and area limits, computes per-gap statistics, converts them to polygons with centroids, and visualizes the gaps in the forest canopy.
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USGS_3DEP_lidar_data.ipynb - This notebook enables users to discover, subset and download USGS 3D Elevation Program (3DEP) lidar point cloud data (via the USGS AWS bucket at https://registry.opendata.aws/usgs-lidar/) as well as quick visualization options.
June 22nd 2026 : Users may get "package ‘lidR’ is not available for this version of R" error when running in Google Colab. Google Colab latest runtime version is R 4.6.0 (Released April 2026 - https://research.google.com/colaboratory/runtime-version-faq.html#2026.04), and CRAN binaries for Linux often lag behind a new R release by weeks or months. The package exists, but there's no pre-compiled binary for R 4.6 on Ubuntu yet. Solution - Switch Runtime version to "2026.04" if you run into this issue.
OpenForest4D is funded by NSF awards 2409885, 2409886 & 2409887.