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作者

Earle W. Isibue;Thomas J. Pingel

来源

URBAN FORESTRY & URBAN GREENING,Vol.48,Issue1,Article 126574

语言

英文

关键字

Allometry;Lidar;Structure from motion;Unmanned aerial vehicles

作者单位

Department of Geographic and Atmospheric Science, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL 60115, United States;Department of Geography, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA 24061, United States;Department of Geographic and Atmospheric Science, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL 60115, United States;Department of Geography, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA 24061, United States

摘要

Urban forests are dynamic and change in response to both human and natural forces. To effectively monitor and manage urban forests, periodic inventories are needed to ensure that information about them is current and comprehensive. This task has traditionally been accomplished by manual ground-based field surveys, or more recently using GIS techniques utilizing remote sensing products, especially lidar. Low-cost Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) employing Structure from Motion (SfM) techniques have the potential to augment these sources for urban forest inventories. We present the results of an analysis of approximately 1000 urban trees and compare accuracy in the measurement of tree heights and diameters from manual measurements, lidar, and Structure from Motion (SfM) from UAV-based imaging. Results indicate that in an urban environment, the SfM method produces estimates of tree height (R2 = 0.96; RMSE =1.91 m) and diameter (R2 = 0.98; RMSE =3 cm) comparable to manual field measurement, and better than those derived from conventional aerial lidar. In addition, the gains in accuracy from SfM come largely from younger, smaller trees that are often poorly imaged with lidar.