GEDIMetrics: a QGIS plugin for accessing and integrating multi-product GEDI spaceborne LiDAR data

Abstract NASA’s Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation (GEDI) provides near-global, high-resolution 3D LiDAR observations of forest vertical structure. However, GEDI products are distributed as independent HDF5 files organised by beam, requiring ad-hoc workflows for data discovery, quality filtering, spatial subsetting, and footprint-level alignment across products. Existing tools either target a single product, require programming expertise, or operate outside common GIS environments. Here, GEDIMetrics is presented as an open-source QGIS plugin that integrates the full GEDI processing chain for four products focused on forest vertical structure: canopy height (L2A), vertical canopy structure (L2B), aboveground biomass density (L4A), and waveform structural complexity (L4C). The plugin implements a five-stage pipeline: granule discovery via the NASA CMR API, authenticated download, variable extraction with quality filtering, spatial subsetting, and multi-product merging using the shot number identifier, with export to GeoPackage and GeoParquet. Its core contribution is the automated footprint-level fusion of these products into a single analysis-ready dataset through a graphical interface, without scripting. GEDIMetrics was tested across two contrasting forest ecosystems (~ 100 km² each): a temperate mixed forest in northeastern France and a humid tropical rainforest in Madre de Dios, Peru. The plugin is freely available through the QGIS Plugin Repository and on GitHub.