Guides & videos
Tools — measuring with LiDAR
In short: your iPhone replaces the rangefinder, the tree caliper and the dendrometer. Two tools, one aim, one value displayed in large type.
At the top of the screen, a dashboard shows your position and your heading. Then two buttons.
Distance
Tap Distance. The camera opens. Aim at what you want to measure: the value is displayed in large type, along with the Azimuth and the Inclination.
A false-colour view shows the depth perceived by the sensor — from blue (near) to red (far). It helps you check that the sensor really "sees" your target, and not foliage in the foreground.
Common uses: distance to a tree, width of an access road, clearance available for felling, height of a roadside timber stack.
Diameter and height
Tap Diameter and height, then choose the mode.
Diameter mode
Aim at the trunk at breast height. The app reconstructs the shape of the trunk from the measured depth: it fits a cylinder and displays its diameter.
While it computes, the screen shows "Cylinder reconstruction in progress...". The value settles within a second or two: it is filtered so it does not jump with every frame.
Adjust the diameter
Ivy, a knot or a branch can distort the measurement. Two vertical lines show the edges the app kept: if they are not on the wood, tap Adjust.
- Place the trunk between the two lines by aiming the phone: the image stays live.
- Set the gap with − and +: the lines move in turn, left then right.
- Read the adjusted diameter, shown large above the measured diameter.
Detected edges puts the lines back on the detected edges, Automatic returns to automatic measurement. From a tree record, Use copies the adjusted diameter into it.
Height mode
The measurement takes two sightings.
- "Aim at the base of the tree" — tap Capture base.
- "Aim at the top of the tree" — the height is shown live as you raise the device, and a line connects the base to the point you are aiming at.
- Tap Capture top to lock the value.
Reset clears the measurement so you can start again.
This module records nothing
This is deliberate. Opened from the home screen, the Tools are a reading instrument: they display a value, they do not keep it.
To keep a measurement, start instead from the tree's record (Observations ▸ Tree): choose the Tool method, then Measure. The tool opens; once the value has settled, Use carries it over to the Diameter or Total height field of the record, rounded to the centimetre. See the Observations guide.
Good to know
- The azimuth is shown in the unit you chose (degrees or gradians); the inclination is always in degrees.
- LiDAR measurement only reaches a few metres: it is not a site laser rangefinder.
- In bright sunlight or heavy rain, depth becomes less reliable — check the false-colour view.
- The module requires neither a domain nor an observation in progress: you can use it at any time.