It is well known that structural diversity is an important factor for creating habitat - and species diversity. In spite of the need for comparable data, structure analysis in forests still is performed in a descriptive manner and is insufficiently standar- disized. Existing methods are seldom adequate to describe canopy structure in an efficient, fast and accurate way in three dimen- sions. This research aims to develop a unique, repeatable and exclusive quantification of the structural characteristics of canopy with a ground based laser system. The system measures in a polar pattern the exact position of vegetative elements in a 3D space. Based on this laser data a general mathematical model, which consists of separate algorithms, will be developed to describe the structure canopies.