scholarly journals Airborne laser scanning applied to eucalyptus stand inventory at individual tree level

2018 ◽  
Vol 53 (12) ◽  
pp. 1373-1382 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diogo Nepomuceno Cosenza ◽  
Vicente Paulo Soares ◽  
Helio Garcia Leite ◽  
José Marinaldo Gleriani ◽  
Cibele Hummel do Amaral ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Laser Scanning ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Tree Height ◽  
Point Clouds ◽  
Equation System ◽  
Airborne Laser Scanning ◽  
Tree Level ◽  
Individual Tree ◽  
Local Maxima ◽  
Airborne Laser

Abstract: The objective of this work was to evaluate the application of airborne laser scanning (ALS) to a large-scale eucalyptus stand inventory by the method of individual trees, as well as to propose a new method to estimate tree diameter as a function of the height obtained from point clouds. The study was carried out in a forest area of 1,681 ha, consisting of eight eucalyptus stands with ages varying from four to seven years. After scanning, tree heights were obtained using the local maxima algorithm, and total wood stock by summing up individual volumes. To determine tree diameters, regressions fit using data measured in the inventory plots were used. The results were compared with the estimates obtained from field sampling. The equation system proposed is adequate to be applied to the tree height data derived from ALS point clouds. The tree individualization approach by local maxima filters is efficient to estimate number of trees and wood stock from ALS data, as long as the results are previously calibrated with field data.

scholarly journals Spatial Models With Inter-Tree Competition From Airborne Laser Scanning Improve Estimates of Genetic Variance

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Pont ◽  
Heidi S. Dungey ◽  
Mari Suontama ◽  
Grahame T. Stovold
Keyword(s):  
Laser Scanning ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Spatial Models ◽  
Airborne Laser Scanning ◽  
Tree Level ◽  
Residual Variance ◽  
Spatial Effects ◽  
Individual Tree ◽  
Airborne Laser ◽  
Individual Trees

Phenotyping individual trees to quantify interactions among genotype, environment, and management practices is critical to the development of precision forestry and to maximize the opportunity of improved tree breeds. In this study we utilized airborne laser scanning (ALS) data to detect and characterize individual trees in order to generate tree-level phenotypes and tree-to-tree competition metrics. To examine our ability to account for environmental variation and its relative importance on individual-tree traits, we investigated the use of spatial models using ALS-derived competition metrics and conventional autoregressive spatial techniques. Models utilizing competition covariate terms were found to quantify previously unexplained phenotypic variation compared with standard models, substantially reducing residual variance and improving estimates of heritabilities for a set of operationally relevant traits. Models including terms for spatial autocorrelation and competition performed the best and were labelled ACE (autocorrelation-competition-error) models. The best ACE models provided statistically significant reductions in residuals ranging from −65.48% for tree height (H) to −21.03% for wood stiffness (A), and improvements in narrow sense heritabilities from 38.64% for H to 14.01% for A. Individual tree phenotyping using an ACE approach is therefore recommended for analyses of research trials where traits are susceptible to spatial effects.

scholarly journals ANALYSIS OF 3D BUILDING MODELS ACCURACY BASED ON THE AIRBORNE LASER SCANNING POINT CLOUDS

2018 ◽  
Vol XLII-2 ◽  
pp. 797-804 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. Ostrowski ◽  
M. Pilarska ◽  
J. Charyton ◽  
K. Bakuła
Keyword(s):  
Point Cloud ◽  
Laser Scanning ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Point Clouds ◽  
3D Models ◽  
Airborne Laser Scanning ◽  
Aerial Images ◽  
Statistical Parameters ◽  
Airborne Laser ◽  
Building Models

Creating 3D building models in large scale is becoming more popular and finds many applications. Nowadays, a wide term “3D building models” can be applied to several types of products: well-known CityGML solid models (available on few Levels of Detail), which are mainly generated from Airborne Laser Scanning (ALS) data, as well as 3D mesh models that can be created from both nadir and oblique aerial images. City authorities and national mapping agencies are interested in obtaining the 3D building models. Apart from the completeness of the models, the accuracy aspect is also important. Final accuracy of a building model depends on various factors (accuracy of the source data, complexity of the roof shapes, etc.). In this paper the methodology of inspection of dataset containing 3D models is presented. The proposed approach check all building in dataset with comparison to ALS point clouds testing both: accuracy and level of details. Using analysis of statistical parameters for normal heights for reference point cloud and tested planes and segmentation of point cloud provides the tool that can indicate which building and which roof plane in do not fulfill requirement of model accuracy and detail correctness. Proposed method was tested on two datasets: solid and mesh model.

scholarly journals The transferability of airborne laser scanning based tree-level models between different inventory areas

2019 ◽  
Vol 49 (3) ◽  
pp. 228-236 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tomi Karjalainen ◽  
Lauri Korhonen ◽  
Petteri Packalen ◽  
Matti Maltamo
Keyword(s):  
Laser Scanning ◽  
Nearest Neighbor ◽  
Airborne Laser Scanning ◽  
Tree Level ◽  
Stem Volume ◽  
K Nearest Neighbor ◽  
Individual Tree ◽  
Tree Detection ◽  
Airborne Laser ◽  
Crown Base Height

In this paper, we examine the transferability of airborne laser scanning (ALS) based models for individual-tree detection (ITD) from one ALS inventory area (A1) to two other areas (A2 and A3). All areas were located in eastern Finland less than 100 km from each other and were scanned using different ALS devices and parameters. The tree attributes of interest were diameter at breast height (Dbh), height (H), crown base height (Cbh), stem volume (V), and theoretical sawlog volume (Vlog) of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) with Dbh ≥ 16 cm. All trees were first segmented from the canopy height models, and various ALS metrics were derived for each segment. Then only the segments covering correctly detected pines were chosen for further inspection. The tree attributes were predicted using the k-nearest neighbor (k-NN) imputation. The results showed that the relative root mean square error (RMSE%) values increased for each attribute after the transfers. The RMSE% values were, for A1, A2, and A3, respectively: Dbh, 13.5%, 14.8%, and 18.1%; H, 3.2%, 5.9%, and 6.2%; Cbh, 13.3%, 15.3%, and 18.3%; V, 29.3%, 35.4%, and 39.1%; and Vlog, 38.2%, 54.4% and 51.8%. The observed values indicate that it may be possible to employ ALS-based tree-level k-NN models over different inventory areas without excessive reduction in accuracy, assuming that the tree species are known to be similar.

scholarly journals ALGORITHM FOR THE AUTOMATIC ESTIMATION OF AGRICULTURAL TREE GEOMETRIC PARAMETERS USING AIRBORNE LASER SCANNING DATA

2016 ◽  
Vol XLI-B8 ◽  
pp. 629-632 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Hadaś ◽  
A. Borkowski ◽  
J. Estornell
Keyword(s):  
Laser Scanning ◽  
Tree Height ◽  
Field Measurements ◽  
Point Clouds ◽  
Average Density ◽  
Geometric Parameters ◽  
Airborne Laser Scanning ◽  
Maximum Height ◽  
Airborne Laser ◽  
Crown Base Height

The estimation of dendrometric parameters has become an important issue for the agricultural planning and management. Since the classical field measurements are time consuming and inefficient, Airborne Laser Scanning (ALS) data can be used for this purpose. Point clouds acquired for orchard areas allow to determine orchard structures and geometric parameters of individual trees. In this research we propose an automatic method that allows to determine geometric parameters of individual olive trees using ALS data. The method is based on the α-shape algorithm applied for normalized point clouds. The algorithm returns polygons representing crown shapes. For points located inside each polygon, we select the maximum height and the minimum height and then we estimate the tree height and the crown base height. We use the first two components of the Principal Component Analysis (PCA) as the estimators for crown diameters. The α-shape algorithm requires to define the radius parameter <i>R</i>. In this study we investigated how sensitive are the results to the radius size, by comparing the results obtained with various settings of the R with reference values of estimated parameters from field measurements. Our study area was the olive orchard located in the Castellon Province, Spain. We used a set of ALS data with an average density of 4 points&thinsp;m<sip>&minus;2</sup>. We noticed, that there was a narrow range of the <i>R</i> parameter, from 0.48&thinsp;m to 0.80&thinsp;m, for which all trees were detected and for which we obtained a high correlation coefficient (>&thinsp;0.9) between estimated and measured values. We compared our estimates with field measurements. The RMSE of differences was 0.8&thinsp;m for the tree height, 0.5&thinsp;m for the crown base height, 0.6&thinsp;m and 0.4&thinsp;m for the longest and shorter crown diameter, respectively. The accuracy obtained with the method is thus sufficient for agricultural applications.

scholarly journals Influence of Site-Specific Conditions on Estimation of Forest above Ground Biomass from Airborne Laser Scanning

Forests ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 268
Author(s):  
Jan Novotný ◽  
Barbora Navrátilová ◽  
Růžena Janoutová ◽  
Filip Oulehle ◽  
Lucie Homolová
Keyword(s):  
Laser Scanning ◽  
Tree Height ◽  
Airborne Laser Scanning ◽  
Allometric Equations ◽  
Spruce Forest ◽  
Individual Tree ◽  
Detection Rates ◽  
Site Specific ◽  
Tree Detection ◽  
Airborne Laser

Forest aboveground biomass (AGB) is an important variable in assessing carbon stock or ecosystem functioning, as well as for forest management. Among methods of forest AGB estimation laser scanning attracts attention because it allows for detailed measurements of forest structure. Here we evaluated variables that influence forest AGB estimation from airborne laser scanning (ALS), specifically characteristics of ALS inputs and of a derived canopy height model (CHM), and role of allometric equations (local vs. global models) relating tree height, stem diameter (DBH), and crown radius. We used individual tree detection approach and analyzed forest inventory together with ALS data acquired for 11 stream catchments with dominant Norway spruce forest cover in the Czech Republic. Results showed that the ALS input point densities (4–18 pt/m2) did not influence individual tree detection rates. Spatial resolution of the input CHM rasters had a greater impact, resulting in higher detection rates for CHMs with pixel size 0.5 m than 1.0 m for all tree height categories. In total 12 scenarios with different allometric equations for estimating stem DBH from ALS-derived tree height were used in empirical models for AGB estimation. Global DBH models tend to underestimate AGB in young stands and overestimate AGB in mature stands. Using different allometric equations can yield uncertainty in AGB estimates of between 16 and 84 tons per hectare, which in relative values corresponds to between 6% and 37% of the mean AGB per catchment. Therefore, allometric equations (mainly for DBH estimation) should be applied with care and we recommend, if possible, to establish one’s own site-specific models. If that is not feasible, the global allometric models developed here, from a broad variety of spruce forest sites, can be potentially applicable for the Central European region.

scholarly journals Characterizing Seedling Stands Using Leaf-Off and Leaf-On Photogrammetric Point Clouds and Hyperspectral Imagery Acquired from Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

Forests ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 415 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammad Imangholiloo ◽  
Ninni Saarinen ◽  
Lauri Markelin ◽  
Tomi Rosnell ◽  
Roope Näsi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Laser Scanning ◽  
Hyperspectral Imagery ◽  
Digital Terrain Model ◽  
Tree Height ◽  
Point Clouds ◽  
Tree Density ◽  
Tree Canopy ◽  
Tree Level ◽  
Species Classification ◽  
Individual Tree

Seedling stands are mainly inventoried through field measurements, which are typically laborious, expensive and time-consuming due to high tree density and small tree size. In addition, operationally used sparse density airborne laser scanning (ALS) and aerial imagery data are not sufficiently accurate for inventorying seedling stands. The use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for forestry applications is currently in high attention and in the midst of quick development and this technology could be used to make seedling stand management more efficient. This study was designed to investigate the use of UAV-based photogrammetric point clouds and hyperspectral imagery for characterizing seedling stands in leaf-off and leaf-on conditions. The focus was in retrieving tree density and the height in young seedling stands in the southern boreal forests of Finland. After creating the canopy height model from photogrammetric point clouds using national digital terrain model based on ALS, the watershed segmentation method was applied to delineate the tree canopy boundary at individual tree level. The segments were then used to extract tree heights and spectral information. Optimal bands for calculating vegetation indices were analysed and used for species classification using the random forest method. Tree density and the mean tree height of the total and spruce trees were then estimated at the plot level. The overall tree density was underestimated by 17.5% and 20.2% in leaf-off and leaf-on conditions with the relative root mean square error (relative RMSE) of 33.5% and 26.8%, respectively. Mean tree height was underestimated by 20.8% and 7.4% (relative RMSE of 23.0% and 11.5%, and RMSE of 0.57 m and 0.29 m) in leaf-off and leaf-on conditions, respectively. The leaf-on data outperformed the leaf-off data in the estimations. The results showed that UAV imagery hold potential for reliably characterizing seedling stands and to be used to supplement or replace the laborious field inventory methods.

scholarly journals Machine Learning Algorithms to Predict Tree-Related Microhabitats using Airborne Laser Scanning

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (13) ◽  
pp. 2142 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giovanni Santopuoli ◽  
Mirko Di Febbraro ◽  
Mauro Maesano ◽  
Marco Balsi ◽  
Marco Marchetti ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Machine Learning ◽  
Laser Scanning ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Point Clouds ◽  
Airborne Laser Scanning ◽  
Machine Learning Algorithms ◽  
Hierarchical Level ◽  
Height Distribution ◽  
Airborne Laser ◽  
Crown Density

In the last few years, the occurrence and abundance of tree-related microhabitats and habitat trees have gained great attention across Europe as indicators of forest biodiversity. Nevertheless, observing microhabitats in the field requires time and well-trained staff. For this reason, new efficient semiautomatic systems for their identification and mapping on a large scale are necessary. This study aims at predicting microhabitats in a mixed and multi-layered Mediterranean forest using Airborne Laser Scanning data through the implementation of a Machine Learning algorithm. The study focuses on the identification of LiDAR metrics useful for detecting microhabitats according to the recent hierarchical classification system for Tree-related Microhabitats, from single microhabitats to the habitat trees. The results demonstrate that Airborne Laser Scanning point clouds support the prediction of microhabitat abundance. Better prediction capabilities were obtained at a higher hierarchical level and for some of the single microhabitats, such as epiphytic bryophytes, root buttress cavities, and branch holes. Metrics concerned with tree height distribution and crown density are the most important predictors of microhabitats in a multi-layered forest.

Predicting and calibrating tree attributes by means of airborne laser scanning and field measurements

2012 ◽  
Vol 42 (11) ◽  
pp. 1896-1907 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matti Maltamo ◽  
Lauri Mehtätalo ◽  
Jari Vauhkonen ◽  
Petteri Packalén
Keyword(s):  
Laser Scanning ◽  
Practical Importance ◽  
Field Measurements ◽  
Airborne Laser Scanning ◽  
Tree Level ◽  
Best Linear Unbiased Predictor ◽  
Individual Tree ◽  
Airborne Laser ◽  
Dead Branch ◽  
Best Linear Unbiased

This paper examines the calibration of airborne laser scanning based tree attribute models to separate data by applying a best linear unbiased predictor. Firstly, single Scots pine ( Pinus sylvestris L.) trees were identified from dense airborne laser scanning data. Secondly, seemingly unrelated mixed-effects models for diameter at breast height, tree height, volume, dead branch height, and crown base height were constructed using airborne laser scanning based height metrics as predictors at both the area and individual tree level. Finally, these models were calibrated to validation stands using field measurements of some of the five abovementioned tree attributes. The models were calibrated by applying the best linear unbiased predictor to predict the random stand effects for the validation stand. In a system of several models, the correlation of random effects enabled the prediction of stand effects for all models, providing the response of at least one of the models was known for one or more sample trees of the validation stand. The results showed that the accuracy of tree attribute prediction improved in most cases as the number of sample trees increased. The level of improvement was highest for volume and dead branch height. The practical importance of the results of this study lies in applications where forest stands are visited in the field, for example, before making cutting decisions.

scholarly journals ALGORITHM FOR THE AUTOMATIC ESTIMATION OF AGRICULTURAL TREE GEOMETRIC PARAMETERS USING AIRBORNE LASER SCANNING DATA

2016 ◽  
Vol XLI-B8 ◽  
pp. 629-632
Author(s):  
E. Hadaś ◽  
A. Borkowski ◽  
J. Estornell
Keyword(s):  
Laser Scanning ◽  
Tree Height ◽  
Field Measurements ◽  
Point Clouds ◽  
Average Density ◽  
Geometric Parameters ◽  
Airborne Laser Scanning ◽  
Maximum Height ◽  
Airborne Laser ◽  
Crown Base Height

The estimation of dendrometric parameters has become an important issue for the agricultural planning and management. Since the classical field measurements are time consuming and inefficient, Airborne Laser Scanning (ALS) data can be used for this purpose. Point clouds acquired for orchard areas allow to determine orchard structures and geometric parameters of individual trees. In this research we propose an automatic method that allows to determine geometric parameters of individual olive trees using ALS data. The method is based on the α-shape algorithm applied for normalized point clouds. The algorithm returns polygons representing crown shapes. For points located inside each polygon, we select the maximum height and the minimum height and then we estimate the tree height and the crown base height. We use the first two components of the Principal Component Analysis (PCA) as the estimators for crown diameters. The α-shape algorithm requires to define the radius parameter &lt;i&gt;R&lt;/i&gt;. In this study we investigated how sensitive are the results to the radius size, by comparing the results obtained with various settings of the R with reference values of estimated parameters from field measurements. Our study area was the olive orchard located in the Castellon Province, Spain. We used a set of ALS data with an average density of 4 points&thinsp;m&lt;sip&gt;&minus;2&lt;/sup&gt;. We noticed, that there was a narrow range of the &lt;i&gt;R&lt;/i&gt; parameter, from 0.48&thinsp;m to 0.80&thinsp;m, for which all trees were detected and for which we obtained a high correlation coefficient (&gt;&thinsp;0.9) between estimated and measured values. We compared our estimates with field measurements. The RMSE of differences was 0.8&thinsp;m for the tree height, 0.5&thinsp;m for the crown base height, 0.6&thinsp;m and 0.4&thinsp;m for the longest and shorter crown diameter, respectively. The accuracy obtained with the method is thus sufficient for agricultural applications.

Combining tree height samples produced by airborne laser scanning and stand management records to estimate plot volume in Eucalyptus plantations

2011 ◽  
Vol 41 (8) ◽  
pp. 1649-1658 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jari Vauhkonen ◽  
Lauri MehtÄtalo ◽  
Petteri Packalén
Keyword(s):  
Laser Scanning ◽  
Tree Height ◽  
Small Sample ◽  
Airborne Laser Scanning ◽  
Tree Level ◽  
Stem Volume ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Stand Management ◽  
Tree Detection ◽  
Airborne Laser

Regular stand structure and availability of precise silvicultural management data produce a special situation regarding remote sensing based assessments of plantation forests. This study tested the use of stand management records to improve single-tree detection in a Eucalyptus plantation. Combined airborne laser scanning (ALS) and planting distance data were used to detect trees and extract their heights. The extracted heights were used as an input for volume estimation using both existing plot-level functions and new tree-level models. The accuracies were evaluated in a test data set of 191 field reference plots in which the diameters of the Eucalyptus urograndis (E. grandis (Hill) Maiden × E. urophylla S.T. Blake) trees varied from 6 to 41 cm and tree heights varied from 12 to 41 m. The constructed mixed-effects model that predicted stem volume from tree height resulted in a root mean squared error (RMSE) of 68 dm3 (15%) in a cross validation of the modeling data. The tree detection produced estimates of stem number with low bias (i.e., average difference between measured and estimated) and an RMSE of 6% of the mean, whereas plot-level mean and dominant heights were estimated with RMSEs of 1.5 m (5%) and 2 m (6%), respectively, using ALS data alone. The difference of about 60 cm observed between the ALS-based and field-measured dominant height was most likely caused by the penetration of the laser pulses through the canopy. A system of plot-level models that employed a small sample of calibration field data gave RMSEs of 1 m (3%) and 2.2 m2/ha (9%) for site index and basal area, respectively. The plot volume was estimated with an RMSE of 44 m3/ha (12%) at best. A similar residual variation was observed in the volume estimates of an area-based method applied to the same data set. The combined results suggest the feasibility of the proposed methodology in a plantation inventory using ALS data with a density of only 1.5 pulses/m2.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document