Airborne laser scanning is one of the modern methods of remote sensing, which is gaining wider application in geographical research. This is facilitated by the high accuracy of the data, making it suitable for large-scale mapping purposes (1:10 000 and larger). However, there are a number of factors that can affect the resulting detail of the data, expressed in the density of the points of the laser scanning. Huge impact from this point of view has forest vegetation. Its presence significantly reduces display detail, especially elevation.

In this paper we consider a similar effect on the example of a mountainous area, and also provide a numerical estimate of the magnitude of detail loss of the airborne laser scanning data under forest vegetation. The methodology of this work allows you to determine the geographical resolution of the digital elevation model by estimating the detail of the raw data and based on this to identify a possible range of mapping scales. The results show that even in the presence of wood vegetation, airborne laser scanning data are capable of displaying various relief microforms.

Novakovsky Boguslav Avgustovich, professor, D.Sc. in Cartography, Federal State Budget Educational Institution of Higher Education M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University (Lomonosov MSU). 119991, Russia, Moscow, GSP-1, 1 Leninskiye Gory, MSU, Faculty of Geography. E-mail: dcaph@mail.ru.

Kudryavtsev Alexander Vladimirovich, Federal State Budget Educational Institution of Higher Education M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University (Lomonosov MSU). 119991, Russia, Moscow, GSP-1,
1 Leninskiye Gory, MSU, Faculty of Geography. E-mail: all.sasa24@ya.ru.

Entin Andrey Lvovich, PhD in Cartography, Federal State Budget Educational Institution of Higher Education M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University (Lomonosov MSU). 119991, Russia, Moscow, GSP-1, 1 Leninskiye Gory, MSU, Faculty of Geography. E-mail: aentin@geogr.msu.ru.

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