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Automatic crown cover mapping to improve forest inventory

Informally Refereed

Abstract

To automatically analyze near infrared aerial photographs, the French National Institute for Research in Computer Science and Control developed together with the French National Forest Inventory (NFI) a method for automatic crown cover mapping. This method uses a Reverse Jump Monte Carlo Markov Chain algorithm to locate the crowns and describe those using ellipses or ellipsoids. The system works well when the crowns can easily be distinguished (e.g., in old, high forests or in poplar plantations). The outputs of such a system can be used as post-stratification criteria to enhance the precision of NFI results. It will also allow computing results at larger scales and provide new data for a better understanding of forest ecosystems.

Parent Publication

Citation

Vidal, Claude; Boureau, Jean-Guy; Robert, Nicolas; Py, Nicolas; Zerubia, Josiane; Descombes, Xavier; Perrin, Guillaume. 2009. Automatic crown cover mapping to improve forest inventory. In: McRoberts, Ronald E.; Reams, Gregory A.; Van Deusen, Paul C.; McWilliams, William H., eds. Proceedings of the eighth annual forest inventory and analysis symposium; 2006 October 16-19; Monterey, CA. Gen. Tech. Report WO-79. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service. 333-340.
https://www.fs.usda.gov/research/treesearch/17325