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Read a RCT QSM

Source: R/read_rct_qsm.R
read_rct_qsm.Rd

Reads a RayCloudTools (RCT) QSM txt file (.txt) generated using rayextract trees and treeinfo. This function returns its components in a list and optionally saves the RCT QSM components into the global environment. It can handle a file including one or multiple RCT QSMs.

Usage

read_rct_qsm(path, global = FALSE)

Arguments

path

A character with the path to the RCT QSM txt file.

global

Logical (default=FALSE), indicates if RCT QSM components should be read into global environment.

Value

Returns a list with the RCT QSM components (cylinder and treedata).

Details

The input file contains the following fields: Tree-level attributes:

  • height: Total height of the tree in meters

  • crown_radius: Approximate radius of the tree crown, calculated as mean of bounding box extents

  • dimension: Fractal dimension of branch lengths (capped at 3.0)

  • monocotal: Metric indicating how strongly the tree resembles a palm tree

  • DBH: Diameter at breast height

  • bend: Trunk bend metric (standard deviation from straight line divided by length)

  • branch_slope: Slope characteristics of the branches

Segment-level attributes:

  • volume: Volume of the segment in cubic meters (for root segment: total tree volume)

  • diameter: Segment diameter in meters (for root: maximum diameter in tree)

  • length: Length from segment base to farthest leaf

  • strength: Structural strength metric calculated as diameter^0.75/length

  • min_strength: Minimum strength value between this segment and root

  • dominance: Branch dominance ratio (a1/(a1+a2) for largest child branches)

  • angle: Branch angle at bifurcation points (for root: mean branch angle)

  • children: Number of child segments (for root: mean for tree)

Optional branch data attributes (if treeinfo tree.txt –branch_data flag was used):

  • branch: Unique branch identifier

  • branch_order: Branch order number in hierarchy

  • extension: Extension identifier for continuous branch segments

  • pos_in_branch: Position index within the branch

  • segment_length: Length of individual segment

Examples

if (FALSE) { # \dontrun{
qsm <- read_rct_qsm(path = "path/to/RCTQSM.txt")
cylinder_data <- qsm$cylinder
} # }