How Accurately Can Smartphone LiDAR Document the Exposed Coarse Root Architecture of Scots Pine? A Low-Cost Field Workflow

Abstract

Coarse root systems govern tree anchorage, yet remain among the least documented components of tree architecture: excavation is irreversible, and established 3D methods rely on specialist scanners and lengthy post-processing. We evaluated whether a consumer smartphone records exposed coarse root architecture metrically, and which traits agree most closely with manual measurement. Four fully exposed Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) root systems in northwestern Poland were scanned with an iPhone 17 Pro running Scaniverse, at about 30 min of acquisition and 5 h of processing per tree. Clouds were registered, cleaned and oriented to magnetic north in CloudCompare; of eight architectural metrics, four were validated against manual references at 95 cross-sections on 44 roots, and four were exploratory. Visible root length (root-mean-square error, RMSE, 22.2 cm, 8.4%), azimuth (RMSE 3.58°, mean absolute error 2.47°) and depth (RMSE 3.18 cm, 14.9%) agreed most closely with the reference; 70 of 77 first-order roots were detected with no false positives. Diameter was the weakest metric and the only one dependent on the operator (RMSE 0.46 and 0.29 cm for two operators on the same clouds). Smartphone LiDAR thus turns an irreversible excavation into a permanent, measurable record of the traits relevant to anchorage, provided that centimetre-level diameters are not required.

Plant phenotyping relevance

スマートフォンLiDARによる露出根系の3D形態計測ワークフローを開発・検証し、手動測定と複数の根系形質を比較しているため、植物フェノタイピング手法が中心である。

Code and data availability

The supplied blocks describe smartphone LiDAR scans of four Scots pine root systems and reference to a 'Dataset S1' supplement, but contain no public repository deposit, no authors' URL for data or code, and no availability statement. No qualifying paper-specific public asset is present.

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