Towards the automatic 3D characterization of forest plots

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlos Cabo ◽  
Celestino Ordoñez ◽  
Covadonga Prendes ◽  
Stefan Doerr ◽  
Jose V. Roces-Diaz ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Point Cloud ◽  
Laser Scanning ◽  
3D Structure ◽  
Tree Height ◽  
Point Clouds ◽  
Forest Plot ◽  
Multiscale Approach ◽  
Plot Structure

<p>Ground-based point clouds (from laser scanning or photogrammetry, and from static or mobile devices) give very detailed 3D information of forest plots. Also, if this information is complemented with data gathered from aerial vehicles, some parts of the forest structure that are not visible from the terrain can be represented (e.g. treetops). However, the heterogeneity of the point clouds, the complexity of some forest plots and the limitations of some data gathering/processing techniques lead to some occlusions and misrepresentations of the features in the plot. Therefore, complete automation of very detailed characterizations of all the items/features/structures in a forest plot is, most of the times, not possible yet.</p><p>On one hand, single trees (or small groups of them) can be modelled in detail from dense point clouds (e.g. using quantitative structure models), but this processes usually require  complete absence of leaves and  intense and/or active operator labouring. On the other hand, many methods automate the location of the trees in a plot and the estimation of basic parameters, like the diameters and, sometimes, the total tree height.</p><p>We are developing a fully automatic method that lies in between some very accurate but labour-intensive single-tree models, and the mere location and diameter calculation of the trees in a plot. Our method is able to automatically detect and locate the trees in a plot and calculate diameters, but it is also able to characterize the 3D tree structure: stem model, inclination and curvature; inclination and location of the main branches (in some cases); and tree crown individualization and diameter estimation. In addition, our method also classifies the points on understory vegetation.</p><p>Our method relies on the integration of algorithms that have been developed by our team, and includes the development of new modules. The first step consists in an initial classification of the point cloud using a multiscale approach based on local shapes. As a result, the point cloud is preliminarily classified into three classes: stems, branches and leaves, and ground. After that, a series of geometric operations lead to the final 3D characterization of the plot structure: (i) stem axes and section modelling (from the pre-classified points on the stems), (ii) distance points-closest stem axis and tree individualization, (iii) extraction and characterization of the main branches, and (iv) final classification of the points laying on stems, main branches, rest of the canopy, understory and ground.</p><p>We are testing the algorithm in several forest plots with coniferous and broadleaf trees. Initial results show values of completeness and correctness for tree detection and point classification over 90%.</p><p>Currently, there are already several cross-cutting projects using our method´s results as inputs: (i) Automatic calculation of taper functions (use: diameters along the stem and tree height), (ii) wood quality based on shape (use: diameters along the stem and insertion of main branches), and (iii) wildfire behaviour models (use: fuel classification and 3D structure to adapt the data to the format of the existing 3D fuel standard models).</p>

scholarly journals SIMULATING VARIOUS TERRESTRIAL AND UAV LIDAR SCANNING CONFIGURATIONS FOR UNDERSTORY FOREST STRUCTURE MODELLING

2017 ◽  
Vol IV-2/W4 ◽  
pp. 59-65 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Hämmerle ◽  
N. Lukač ◽  
K.-C. Chen ◽  
Zs. Koma ◽  
C.-K. Wang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Laser Scanning ◽  
3D Structure ◽  
Tree Height ◽  
Point Clouds ◽  
Understory Vegetation ◽  
Forest Plot ◽  
Triangle Mesh ◽  
Vegetation Modelling ◽  
Efficient Planning ◽  
Scanning Strategies

Information about the 3D structure of understory vegetation is of high relevance in forestry research and management (e.g., for complete biomass estimations). However, it has been hardly investigated systematically with state-of-the-art methods such as static terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) or laser scanning from unmanned aerial vehicle platforms (ULS). A prominent challenge for scanning forests is posed by occlusion, calling for proper TLS scan position or ULS flight line configurations in order to achieve an accurate representation of understory vegetation. The aim of our study is to examine the effect of TLS or ULS scanning strategies on (1) the height of individual understory trees and (2) understory canopy height raster models. We simulate full-waveform TLS and ULS point clouds of a virtual forest plot captured from various combinations of max. 12 TLS scan positions or 3 ULS flight lines. The accuracy of the respective datasets is evaluated with reference values given by the virtually scanned 3D triangle mesh tree models. TLS tree height underestimations range up to 1.84 m (15.30 % of tree height) for single TLS scan positions, but combining three scan positions reduces the underestimation to maximum 0.31 m (2.41 %). Combining ULS flight lines also results in improved tree height representation, with a maximum underestimation of 0.24 m (2.15 %). The presented simulation approach offers a complementary source of information for efficient planning of field campaigns aiming at understory vegetation modelling.

scholarly journals ON A KNOWLEDGE-BASED APPROACH TO THE CLASSIFICATION OF MOBILE LASER SCANNING POINT CLOUDS

2018 ◽  
Vol XLII-4 ◽  
pp. 343-349 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Lemmens
Keyword(s):  
Point Cloud ◽  
Laser Scanning ◽  
Decision Rules ◽  
Point Clouds ◽  
Bench Mark ◽  
Automated Classification ◽  
Initial Experiment ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Knowledge Based

<p><strong>Abstract.</strong> A knowledge-based system exploits the knowledge, which a human expert uses for completing a complex task, through a database containing decision rules, and an inference engine. Already in the early nineties knowledge-based systems have been proposed for automated image classification. Lack of success faded out initial interest and enthusiasm, the same fate neural networks struck at that time. Today the latter enjoy a steady revival. This paper aims at demonstrating that a knowledge-based approach to automated classification of mobile laser scanning point clouds has promising prospects. An initial experiment exploiting only two features, height and reflectance value, resulted in an overall accuracy of 79<span class="thinspace"></span>% for the Paris-rue-Madame point cloud bench mark data set.</p>

scholarly journals Special Issue on “Terrestrial Laser Scanning”: Editors’ Notes

Sensors ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (20) ◽  
pp. 4569
Author(s):  
Joan R. Rosell-Polo ◽  
Eduard Gregorio ◽  
Jordi Llorens
Keyword(s):  
Point Cloud ◽  
Laser Scanning ◽  
Terrestrial Laser Scanning ◽  
Point Clouds ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Alternative Technologies ◽  
Cloud Processing ◽  
3D Point Clouds ◽  
Point Cloud Processing

In this editorial, we provide an overview of the content of the special issue on “Terrestrial Laser Scanning”. The aim of this Special Issue is to bring together innovative developments and applications of terrestrial laser scanning (TLS), understood in a broad sense. Thus, although most contributions mainly involve the use of laser-based systems, other alternative technologies that also allow for obtaining 3D point clouds for the measurement and the 3D characterization of terrestrial targets, such as photogrammetry, are also considered. The 15 published contributions are mainly focused on the applications of TLS to the following three topics: TLS performance and point cloud processing, applications to civil engineering, and applications to plant characterization.

scholarly journals Automating Parameter Learning for Classifying Terrestrial LiDAR Point Cloud Using 2D Land Cover Maps

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (8) ◽  
pp. 1192 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chen-Chieh Feng ◽  
Zhou Guo
Keyword(s):  
Land Cover ◽  
Point Cloud ◽  
Laser Scanning ◽  
Point Clouds ◽  
Parameter Learning ◽  
Cloud Classification ◽  
Land Cover Map ◽  
Point Cloud Classification ◽  
Optimal Feature

The automating classification of point clouds capturing urban scenes is critical for supporting applications that demand three-dimensional (3D) models. Achieving this goal, however, is met with challenges because of the varying densities of the point clouds and the complexity of the 3D data. In order to increase the level of automation in the point cloud classification, this study proposes a segment-based parameter learning method that incorporates a two-dimensional (2D) land cover map, in which a strategy of fusing the 2D land cover map and the 3D points is first adopted to create labelled samples, and a formalized procedure is then implemented to automatically learn the following parameters of point cloud classification: the optimal scale of the neighborhood for segmentation, optimal feature set, and the training classifier. It comprises four main steps, namely: (1) point cloud segmentation; (2) sample selection; (3) optimal feature set selection; and (4) point cloud classification. Three datasets containing the point cloud data were used in this study to validate the efficiency of the proposed method. The first two datasets cover two areas of the National University of Singapore (NUS) campus while the third dataset is a widely used benchmark point cloud dataset of Oakland, Pennsylvania. The classification parameters were learned from the first dataset consisting of a terrestrial laser-scanning data and a 2D land cover map, and were subsequently used to classify both of the NUS datasets. The evaluation of the classification results showed overall accuracies of 94.07% and 91.13%, respectively, indicating that the transition of the knowledge learned from one dataset to another was satisfactory. The classification of the Oakland dataset achieved an overall accuracy of 97.08%, which further verified the transferability of the proposed approach. An experiment of the point-based classification was also conducted on the first dataset and the result was compared to that of the segment-based classification. The evaluation revealed that the overall accuracy of the segment-based classification is indeed higher than that of the point-based classification, demonstrating the advantage of the segment-based approaches.

scholarly journals Analysis of Dynamic Forest Structures Based on Hierarchical Features Extracted from Multi-Station LiDAR Scanning

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 21
Author(s):  
Xiuyun Lin ◽  
Yulin Gong ◽  
Yuan Sun ◽  
Jiawen Jiang ◽  
Yanli Zhang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Volume Change ◽  
Point Cloud ◽  
Laser Scanning ◽  
Tree Height ◽  
Point Clouds ◽  
Dynamic Monitoring ◽  
Scanning Method ◽  
Volume Model ◽  
Liriodendron Chinense ◽  
Hierarchical Features

This study aims at searching for characteristic parameters of tree trunks to establish a volume model and dynamic analysis of volume based on terrestrial laser scanning (TLS). We collected three phases of data over 5 years from an artificial Liriodendron chinense forest. The upper diameters of the tree stump and tree height data were obtained by using the multi-station scanning method. A novel hierarchical TLS point cloud feature named the height cumulative percentage (Hz%) was designed. The shape of the upper tree trunk extracted by the point cloud was equivalent to that of the analytical tree with inflection points at 25% and 50% of the height, and the dynamic volume change of the model, which was established by hierarchical features, was highly related to the volume change of the actual point cloud extraction. The obtained results reflected the fact that the Hz% value provided by multi-station scanning was closely related to the characteristic stumpage parameters and could be used to invert the dynamic forest structure. The volume model established based on point cloud hierarchical parameters in this study could be used to monitor the dynamic changes of forest volume and to provide a new reference for applying TLS point clouds for the dynamic monitoring of forest resources.

scholarly journals AUTOMATIC CLASSIFICATION OF TREES FROM LASER SCANNING POINT CLOUDS

2015 ◽  
Vol II-3/W5 ◽  
pp. 137-144 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. Sirmacek ◽  
R. Lindenbergh
Keyword(s):  
Point Cloud ◽  
Laser Scanning ◽  
Point Clouds ◽  
Detection Methods ◽  
Local Maxima ◽  
Advantages And Disadvantages ◽  
Close Proximity ◽  
Point Density ◽  
Grid Surface

Development of laser scanning technologies has promoted tree monitoring studies to a new level, as the laser scanning point clouds enable accurate 3D measurements in a fast and environmental friendly manner. In this paper, we introduce a probability matrix computation based algorithm for automatically classifying laser scanning point clouds into ’tree’ and ’non-tree’ classes. Our method uses the 3D coordinates of the laser scanning points as input and generates a new point cloud which holds a label for each point indicating if it belongs to the ’tree’ or ’non-tree’ class. To do so, a grid surface is assigned to the lowest height level of the point cloud. The grids are filled with probability values which are calculated by checking the point density above the grid. Since the tree trunk locations appear with very high values in the probability matrix, selecting the local maxima of the grid surface help to detect the tree trunks. Further points are assigned to tree trunks if they appear in the close proximity of trunks. Since heavy mathematical computations (such as point cloud organization, detailed shape 3D detection methods, graph network generation) are not required, the proposed algorithm works very fast compared to the existing methods. The tree classification results are found reliable even on point clouds of cities containing many different objects. As the most significant weakness, false detection of light poles, traffic signs and other objects close to trees cannot be prevented. Nevertheless, the experimental results on mobile and airborne laser scanning point clouds indicate the possible usage of the algorithm as an important step for tree growth observation, tree counting and similar applications. While the laser scanning point cloud is giving opportunity to classify even very small trees, accuracy of the results is reduced in the low point density areas further away than the scanning location. These advantages and disadvantages of two laser scanning point cloud sources are discussed in detail.

scholarly journals INTERACTIVE CLASSIFICATION OF CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS: FEEDBACK DRIVEN FRAMEWORK FOR ANNOTATION AND ANALYSIS OF 3D POINT CLOUDS

2017 ◽  
Vol XLII-2/W5 ◽  
pp. 343-347
Author(s):  
M. R. Hess ◽  
V. Petrovic ◽  
F. Kuester
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Heritage ◽  
Point Cloud ◽  
Laser Scanning ◽  
Building Materials ◽  
Point Clouds ◽  
Normal Vector ◽  
Surface Geometry ◽  
Historical Structures ◽  
3D Point Clouds

Digital documentation of cultural heritage structures is increasingly more common through the application of different imaging techniques. Many works have focused on the application of laser scanning and photogrammetry techniques for the acquisition of threedimensional (3D) geometry detailing cultural heritage sites and structures. With an abundance of these 3D data assets, there must be a digital environment where these data can be visualized and analyzed. Presented here is a feedback driven visualization framework that seamlessly enables interactive exploration and manipulation of massive point cloud data. The focus of this work is on the classification of different building materials with the goal of building more accurate as-built information models of historical structures. User defined functions have been tested within the interactive point cloud visualization framework to evaluate automated and semi-automated classification of 3D point data. These functions include decisions based on observed color, laser intensity, normal vector or local surface geometry. Multiple case studies are presented here to demonstrate the flexibility and utility of the presented point cloud visualization framework to achieve classification objectives.

scholarly journals Wood–leaf Classification of Tree Point Cloud Based on Intensity and Geometric Information

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (20) ◽  
pp. 4050
Author(s):  
Jingqian Sun ◽  
Pei Wang ◽  
Zhiyong Gao ◽  
Zichu Liu ◽  
Yaxin Li ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Point Cloud ◽  
High Speed ◽  
Laser Scanning ◽  
Structural Parameters ◽  
Point Clouds ◽  
Neighborhood Density ◽  
Geometric Information ◽  
Classification Technique ◽  
Manual Classification

Terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) can obtain tree point clouds with high precision and high density. The efficient classification of wood points and leaf points is essential for the study of tree structural parameters and ecological characteristics. Using both intensity and geometric information, we present an automated wood–leaf classification with a three-step classification and wood point verification. The tree point cloud was classified into wood points and leaf points using intensity threshold, neighborhood density and voxelization successively, and was then verified. Twenty-four willow trees were scanned using the RIEGL VZ-400 scanner. Our results were compared with the manual classification results. To evaluate the classification accuracy, three indicators were introduced into the experiment: overall accuracy (OA), Kappa coefficient (Kappa), and Matthews correlation coefficient (MCC). The ranges of OA, Kappa, and MCC of our results were from 0.9167 to 0.9872, 0.7276 to 0.9191, and 0.7544 to 0.9211, respectively. The average values of OA, Kappa, and MCC were 0.9550, 0.8547, and 0.8627, respectively. The time costs of our method and another were also recorded to evaluate the efficiency. The average processing time was 1.4 seconds per million points for our method. The results show that our method represents a potential wood–leaf classification technique with the characteristics of automation, high speed, and good accuracy.

scholarly journals JOINT CLASSIFICATION OF ALS AND DIM POINT CLOUDS

2019 ◽  
Vol XLII-2/W13 ◽  
pp. 1113-1120
Author(s):  
F. Politz ◽  
M. Sester
Keyword(s):  
Transfer Learning ◽  
Point Cloud ◽  
Laser Scanning ◽  
Measurement Techniques ◽  
Point Clouds ◽  
Aerial Images ◽  
Individual Measurement ◽  
Cloud Data ◽  
Practical Applications

<p><strong>Abstract.</strong> National mapping agencies (NMAs) have to acquire nation-wide Digital Terrain Models on a regular basis as part of their obligations to provide up-to-date data. Point clouds from Airborne Laser Scanning (ALS) are an important data source for this task; recently, NMAs also started deriving Dense Image Matching (DIM) point clouds from aerial images. As a result, NMAs have both point cloud data sources available, which they can exploit for their purposes. In this study, we investigate the potential of transfer learning from ALS to DIM data, so the time consuming step of data labelling can be reduced. Due to their specific individual measurement techniques, both point clouds have various distinct properties such as RGB or intensity values, which are often exploited for classification of either ALS or DIM point clouds. However, those features also hinder transfer learning between these two point cloud types, since they do not exist in the other point cloud type. As the mere 3D point is available in both point cloud types, we focus on transfer learning from an ALS to a DIM point cloud using exclusively the point coordinates. We are tackling the issue of different point densities by rasterizing the point cloud into a 2D grid and take important height features as input for classification. We train an encoder-decoder convolutional neural network with labelled ALS data as a baseline and then fine-tune this baseline with an increasing amount of labelled DIM data. We also train the same network exclusively on all available DIM data as reference to compare our results. We show that only 10% of labelled DIM data increase the classification results notably, which is especially relevant for practical applications.</p>

scholarly journals AUTOMATIC DETECTION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF GROUND OCCLUSIONS IN URBAN POINT CLOUDS FROM MOBILE LASER SCANNING DATA

2020 ◽  
Vol VI-4/W1-2020 ◽  
pp. 13-20
Author(s):  
J. Balado ◽  
E. González ◽  
E. Verbree ◽  
L. Díaz-Vilariño ◽  
H. Lorenzo
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Point Cloud ◽  
Laser Scanning ◽  
Automatic Detection ◽  
Point Clouds ◽  
Real Case ◽  
Occlusion Detection ◽  
Object Class ◽  
Multi Temporal

Abstract. Occlusions accompany serious problems that reduce the applicability of numerous algorithms. The aim of this work is to detect and characterize urban ground gaps based on occluding object. The point clouds for input have been acquired with Mobile Laser Scanning and have been previously segmented into ground, buildings and objects, which have been classified. The method generates various raster images according to segmented point cloud elements, and detects gaps within the ground based on their connectivity and the application of the hit-or-miss transform. The method has been tested in four real case studies in the cities of Vigo and Paris, and an accuracy of 99.6% has been obtained in occlusion detection and labelling. Cars caused 80.6% of the occlusions. Each car occluded an average ground area of 11.9 m2. The proposed method facilitates knowing the percentage of occluded ground, and if this would be reduced in successive multi-temporal acquisitions based on mobility characteristics of each object class.

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