Forest point cloud registration: a review

Point cloud registration is a necessary prerequisite for conducting precise, large-scale forest surveys and management. This paper focuses on providing a systematic overview and summary of the work on forest point cloud registration over the past 20 years. The developmental process of forest point cloud registration methods, spanning from the early reliance on manual markers to the subsequent evolution towards automatic registration based on feature matching, and then to the advanced technology based on deep learning were reviewed. Furthermore, the paper offered detailed discussions on the registration between different point cloud platforms: ground platforms, between ground platforms and aerial platforms, and between aerial platforms. Additionally, the paper delved into mainstream datasets and evaluation metrics in the domain of forest point cloud registration. Finally, the paper summarized the current state of research in this area, highlighted challenges, and provided future research outlooks. This review aims to provide researchers with a comprehensive understanding of forest point cloud registration, and to promote the advancement of point cloud technology, hopefully inspiring further applications in the field.