High spatial resolution three-dimensional mapping of vegetation spectral dynamics using computer vision

doi:10.1016/J.RSE.2013.04.005

Home
/
Papers
/
High spatial resolution three-dimensional mapping of vegetation spectral dynamics using computer vision

Journal Article•DOI•

High spatial resolution three-dimensional mapping of vegetation spectral dynamics using computer vision

Jonathan P. Dandois¹, Erle C. Ellis¹•Institutions (1)

University of Maryland, Baltimore County¹

01 Sep 2013-Remote Sensing of Environment (Elsevier)-Vol. 136, pp 259-276

TL;DR: In this article, the authors demonstrate a new aerial remote sensing system enabling routine and inexpensive aerial 3D measurements of canopy structure and spectral attributes, with properties similar to those of LIDAR, but with RGB (red-green-blue) spectral attributes for each point.

read less

About: This article is published in Remote Sensing of Environment.The article was published on 2013-09-01 and is currently open access. It has received 451 citations till now. The article focuses on the topics: Normalized Difference Vegetation Index & Lidar.

...read moreread less

Citations

PDF

Open Access

More filters

Journal Article•DOI•

Overview and Current Status of Remote Sensing Applications Based on Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs)

[...]

Gonzalo Pajares¹•Institutions (1)

Complutense University of Madrid¹

01 Apr 2015-Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing

TL;DR: An overview of different areas of remote sensing applications based on unmanned aerial platforms equipped with a set of specific sensors and instruments is presented, each independent from the others so that the reader does not need to read the full paper when a specific application is of interest.

...read moreread less

Abstract: Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) is presently in continuous development at a rapid pace. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) or more extensively Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) are platforms considered under the RPAs paradigm. Simultaneously, the development of sensors and instruments to be installed onboard such platforms is growing exponentially. These two factors together have led to the increasing use of these platforms and sensors for remote sensing applications with new potential. Thus, the overall goal of this paper is to provide a panoramic overview about the current status of remote sensing applications based on unmanned aerial platforms equipped with a set of specific sensors and instruments. First, some examples of typical platforms used in remote sensing are provided. Second, a description of sensors and technologies is explored which are onboard instruments specifically intended to capture data for remote sensing applications. Third, multi-UAVs in collaboration, coordination, and cooperation in remote sensing are considered. Finally, a collection of applications in several areas are proposed, where the combination of unmanned platforms and sensors, together with methods, algorithms, and procedures provide the overview in very different remote sensing applications. This paper presents an overview of different areas, each independent from the others, so that the reader does not need to read the full paper when a specific application is of interest

...read moreread less

587 citations

Journal Article•DOI•

Modeling the topography of shallow braided rivers using Structure-from-Motion photogrammetry

[...]

L. Javernick¹, James Brasington², B. Caruso¹•Institutions (2)

University of Canterbury¹, Queen Mary University of London²

15 May 2014-Geomorphology

TL;DR: In this paper, a detailed error analysis of sub-meter resolution terrain models of two contiguous reaches (1.6 and 1.7 km long) of the braided Ahuriri River, New Zealand, generated using Structure-from-Motion (SfM) is presented.

...read moreread less

573 citations

Cites background from "High spatial resolution three-dimen..."

...Recent studies have highlighted the convenience of SfM–MVS by utilizing unmanned or ultralight aircraft (James and Robson, 2012; Dandois and Ellis, 2013) aswell as the potential time savings terrestrial image acquisition has over transporting heavy and bulky TLS equipment (James and Robson, 2012)....
[...]

Journal Article•DOI•

Structure from Motion Photogrammetry in Physical Geography

[...]

Mark W. Smith¹, Jonathan L. Carrivick¹, Duncan J. Quincey¹•Institutions (1)

University of Leeds¹

01 Apr 2016-Progress in Physical Geography

TL;DR: The typical workflow applied by SfM-MVS software packages is detailed, practical details of implementing S fM- MVS are reviewed, existing validation studies to assess practically achievable data quality are combined, and the range of applications in physical geography are reviewed.

...read moreread less

Abstract: Accurate, precise and rapid acquisition of topographic data is fundamental to many sub-disciplines of physical geography. Technological developments over the past few decades have made fully distributed data sets of centimetric resolution and accuracy commonplace, yet the emergence of Structure from Motion (SfM) with Multi-View Stereo (MVS) in recent years has revolutionised three-dimensional topographic surveys in physical geography by democratising data collection and processing. SfM-MVS originates from the fields of computer vision and photogrammetry, requires minimal expensive equipment or specialist expertise and, under certain conditions, can produce point clouds of comparable quality to existing survey methods (e.g. Terrestrial Laser Scanning). Consequently, applications of SfM-MVS in physical geography have multiplied rapidly. There are many practical options available to physical geographers when planning a SfM-MVS survey (e.g. platforms, cameras, software), yet, many SfM-MVS end-users are uncert...

...read moreread less

565 citations

Cites background from "High spatial resolution three-dimen..."

..., 2014) and aboveground forest biomass (Dandois and Ellis, 2013)....
[...]
...…measurement of features (Figure 5c), including the size of coastal boulders (Gienko and Terry, 2014), eroded gully volumes (Castillo et al., 2012; d’Oleire-Oltmanns et al., 2012; Frankl et al., 2015; Gómez-Gutiérrez et al., 2014) and aboveground forest biomass (Dandois and Ellis, 2013)....
[...]
...…et al., 2013), monitoring coastal recession (James and Robson, 2012), surveying fluvial morphology (Javernick et al., 2014) including submerged surfaces (Woodget et al., 2014), characterising rock outcrops (Favalli et al., 2012) and quantifying aboveground forest biomass (Dandois and Ellis, 2013)....
[...]
..., 2012) and quantifying aboveground forest biomass (Dandois and Ellis, 2013)....
[...]

Journal Article•DOI•

Assessment of Forest Structure Using Two UAV Techniques: A Comparison of Airborne Laser Scanning and Structure from Motion (SfM) Point Clouds

[...]

Luke Wallace, Arko Lucieer, Zbyněk Malenovský, Darren Turner, Petr Vopěnka - Show less +1 more

07 Mar 2016-Forests

TL;DR: Although ALS is capable of providing more accurate estimates of the vertical structure of forests across the larger range of canopy densities found in this study, SfM was still found to be an adequate low-cost alternative for surveying of forest stands.

...read moreread less

Abstract: This study investigates the potential of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to measure and monitor structural properties of forests. Two remote sensing techniques, airborne laser scanning (ALS) and structure from motion (SfM) were tested to capture three-dimensional structural information from a small multi-rotor UAV platform. A case study is presented through the analysis of data collected from a 30 × 50 m plot in a dry sclerophyll eucalypt forest with a spatially varying canopy cover. The study provides an insight into the capabilities of both technologies for assessing absolute terrain height, the horizontal and vertical distribution of forest canopy elements, and information related to individual trees. Results indicate that both techniques are capable of providing information that can be used to describe the terrain surface and canopy properties in areas of relatively low canopy closure. However, the SfM photogrammetric technique underperformed ALS in capturing the terrain surface under increasingly denser canopy cover, resulting in point density of less than 1 ground point per m2 and mean difference from ALS terrain surface of 0.12 m. This shortcoming caused errors that were propagated into the estimation of canopy properties, including the individual tree height (root mean square error of 0.92 m for ALS and 1.30 m for SfM). Differences were also seen in the estimates of canopy cover derived from the SfM (50%) and ALS (63%) pointclouds. Although ALS is capable of providing more accurate estimates of the vertical structure of forests across the larger range of canopy densities found in this study, SfM was still found to be an adequate low-cost alternative for surveying of forest stands.

...read moreread less

542 citations

Cites background or methods from "High spatial resolution three-dimen..."

...For instance, Dandois and Ellis [14] have demonstrated that spectral information captured from a UAV is able to track changes in canopy relative greenness....
[...]
... The mini‐UAV system used in this study was designed to accommodate the laser scanner and the DSLR camera simultaneously....
[...]
...Equipping mini-UAVs with sensors capable of detecting 3D structure has led to the systems being increasingly used to provide an understanding of the structure and variability of forests [14–17]....
[...]
...Small-size unmanned aerial vehicles (mini-UAVs of less than 5 kg) represent a low-cost remote sensing alternative to airborne and satellite platforms that, when equipped with sensors, can produce cost-effective data at local scales (e.g., for areas the size of traditional forest plots up to areas of several km2) with an unrivalled combination of spatial and temporal resolution [10]....
[...]
...Notably, it has been shown that imagery can capture spectral information that in some cases produces a more detailed representation of the upper canopy [14]....
[...]

Journal Article•DOI•

On the Use of Unmanned Aerial Systems for Environmental Monitoring

[...]

Salvatore Manfreda¹, Matthew F. McCabe², P. E. Miller³, Richard Lucas, Victor Pajuelo Madrigal, Giorgos Mallinis⁴, Eyal Ben Dor⁵, David Helman⁶, Lyndon Estes⁷, Giuseppe Ciraolo⁸, Jana Müllerová⁹, Flavia Tauro¹⁰, M. Isabel P. de Lima¹¹, João L. M. P. de Lima¹¹, Antonino Maltese⁸, Félix Francés¹², Kelly K. Caylor¹³, Marko Kohv¹⁴, Matthew T. Perks¹⁵, Guiomar Ruiz-Pérez¹⁶, Zhongbo Su, Giulia Vico¹⁶, Brigitta Tóth¹⁷, Brigitta Tóth¹⁸ - Show less +20 more•Institutions (18)

University of Basilicata¹, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology², James Hutton Institute³, Democritus University of Thrace⁴, Tel Aviv University⁵, Bar-Ilan University⁶, Clark University⁷, University of Palermo⁸, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic⁹, Tuscia University¹⁰, University of Coimbra¹¹, Polytechnic University of Valencia¹², University of California, Santa Barbara¹³, University of Tartu¹⁴, Newcastle University¹⁵, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences¹⁶, University of Pannonia¹⁷, Hungarian Academy of Sciences¹⁸

20 Apr 2018-Remote Sensing

TL;DR: An overview of the existing research and applications of UAS in natural and agricultural ecosystem monitoring is provided in order to identify future directions, applications, developments, and challenges.

...read moreread less

Abstract: Environmental monitoring plays a central role in diagnosing climate and management impacts on natural and agricultural systems; enhancing the understanding of hydrological processes; optimizing the allocation and distribution of water resources; and assessing, forecasting, and even preventing natural disasters. Nowadays, most monitoring and data collection systems are based upon a combination of ground-based measurements, manned airborne sensors, and satellite observations. These data are utilized in describing both small- and large-scale processes, but have spatiotemporal constraints inherent to each respective collection system. Bridging the unique spatial and temporal divides that limit current monitoring platforms is key to improving our understanding of environmental systems. In this context, Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) have considerable potential to radically improve environmental monitoring. UAS-mounted sensors offer an extraordinary opportunity to bridge the existing gap between field observations and traditional air- and space-borne remote sensing, by providing high spatial detail over relatively large areas in a cost-effective way and an entirely new capacity for enhanced temporal retrieval. As well as showcasing recent advances in the field, there is also a need to identify and understand the potential limitations of UAS technology. For these platforms to reach their monitoring potential, a wide spectrum of unresolved issues and application-specific challenges require focused community attention. Indeed, to leverage the full potential of UAS-based approaches, sensing technologies, measurement protocols, postprocessing techniques, retrieval algorithms, and evaluation techniques need to be harmonized. The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of the existing research and applications of UAS in natural and agricultural ecosystem monitoring in order to identify future directions, applications, developments, and challenges.

...read moreread less

442 citations

Cites background from "High spatial resolution three-dimen..."

...Many studies have focused on the retrieval of vegetation structural information to support forest assessment and management [118,119]....
[...]

1
2
3
4
…
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91

Collapse

References

PDF

Open Access

More filters

Journal Article•DOI•

Distinctive Image Features from Scale-Invariant Keypoints

[...]

David G. Lowe¹•Institutions (1)

University of British Columbia¹

01 Nov 2004-International Journal of Computer Vision

TL;DR: This paper presents a method for extracting distinctive invariant features from images that can be used to perform reliable matching between different views of an object or scene and can robustly identify objects among clutter and occlusion while achieving near real-time performance.

...read moreread less

Abstract: This paper presents a method for extracting distinctive invariant features from images that can be used to perform reliable matching between different views of an object or scene. The features are invariant to image scale and rotation, and are shown to provide robust matching across a substantial range of affine distortion, change in 3D viewpoint, addition of noise, and change in illumination. The features are highly distinctive, in the sense that a single feature can be correctly matched with high probability against a large database of features from many images. This paper also describes an approach to using these features for object recognition. The recognition proceeds by matching individual features to a database of features from known objects using a fast nearest-neighbor algorithm, followed by a Hough transform to identify clusters belonging to a single object, and finally performing verification through least-squares solution for consistent pose parameters. This approach to recognition can robustly identify objects among clutter and occlusion while achieving near real-time performance.

...read moreread less

46,906 citations

Book•

Robust Regression and Outlier Detection

[...]

Peter J. Rousseeuw, Annick M. Leroy

01 Jan 1987

TL;DR: This paper presents the results of a two-year study of the statistical treatment of outliers in the context of one-Dimensional Location and its applications to discrete-time reinforcement learning.

...read moreread less

Abstract: 1. Introduction. 2. Simple Regression. 3. Multiple Regression. 4. The Special Case of One-Dimensional Location. 5. Algorithms. 6. Outlier Diagnostics. 7. Related Statistical Techniques. References. Table of Data Sets. Index.

...read moreread less

6,955 citations

"High spatial resolution three-dimen..." refers methods in this paper

...A local filter was applied by overlaying a 10 m grid across the clipped point cloud, computing standardized Z-scores (Rousseeuw & Leroy, 1987) within each grid cell, and removing all points with |Z-score| >3; between 1% and 2% of input points were removed at this stage (Supplement 2)....
[...]

Journal Article•DOI•

Procedures for Detecting Outlying Observations in Samples

[...]

Frank E. Grubbs¹•Institutions (1)

United States Department of the Army¹

01 Feb 1969-Technometrics

TL;DR: In this paper, a procedure for determining statistically whether the highest observation, lowest observation, highest and lowest observations, or more of the observations in the sample are statistical outliers is given.

...read moreread less

Abstract: Procedures are given for determining statistically whether the highest observation, the lowest observation, the highest and lowest observations, the two highest observations, the two lowest observations, or more of the observations in the sample are statistical outliers. Both the statistical formulae and the application of the procedures to examples are given, thus representing a rather complete treatment of tests for outliers in single samples. This paper has been prepared primarily as an expository and tutorial article on the problem of detecting outlying observations in much experimental work. We cover only tests of significance in thii paper.

...read moreread less

3,551 citations

"High spatial resolution three-dimen..." refers methods in this paper

...For each site, one outlier was identified (Grubbs, 1969) and removed from analysis where Ecosynth overestimated field height by >10 m due to tree removal (Knoll), tall canopy spreading into a plot with few small trees (Herbert Run), and a plot that had only one large tree and several smaller,…...
[...]
...For each site, one outlier was identified (Grubbs, 1969) and removed from analysis where Ecosynth overestimated field height by >10 m due to tree removal (Knoll), tall canopy spreading into a plot with few small trees (Herbert Run), and a plot that had only one large tree and several smaller, suppressed understory trees (SERC)....
[...]

Book Chapter•DOI•

Bundle Adjustment - A Modern Synthesis

[...]

Bill Triggs¹, Philip F. McLauchlan², Richard Hartley³, Andrew Fitzgibbon⁴•Institutions (4)

French Institute for Research in Computer Science and Automation¹, University of Surrey², General Electric³, University of Oxford⁴

21 Sep 1999

TL;DR: A survey of the theory and methods of photogrammetric bundle adjustment can be found in this article, with a focus on general robust cost functions rather than restricting attention to traditional nonlinear least squares.

...read moreread less

Abstract: This paper is a survey of the theory and methods of photogrammetric bundle adjustment, aimed at potential implementors in the computer vision community. Bundle adjustment is the problem of refining a visual reconstruction to produce jointly optimal structure and viewing parameter estimates. Topics covered include: the choice of cost function and robustness; numerical optimization including sparse Newton methods, linearly convergent approximations, updating and recursive methods; gauge (datum) invariance; and quality control. The theory is developed for general robust cost functions rather than restricting attention to traditional nonlinear least squares.

...read moreread less

3,521 citations

Journal Article•DOI•

Using the satellite-derived NDVI to assess ecological responses to environmental change

[...]

Nathalie Pettorelli¹, Jon Olav Vik¹, Atle Mysterud¹, Jean-Michel Gaillard², Compton J. Tucker³, Nils Chr. Stenseth¹ - Show less +2 more•Institutions (3)

University of Oslo¹, Claude Bernard University Lyon 1², Goddard Space Flight Center³

01 Sep 2005-Trends in Ecology and Evolution

TL;DR: The use of the NDVI in recent ecological studies is reviewed and its possible key role in future research of environmental change in an ecosystem context is outlined.

...read moreread less

Abstract: Assessing how environmental changes affect the distribution and dynamics of vegetation and animal populations is becoming increasingly important for terrestrial ecologists to enable better predictions of the effects of global warming, biodiversity reduction or habitat degradation. The ability to predict ecological responses has often been hampered by our rather limited understanding of trophic interactions. Indeed, it has proven difficult to discern direct and indirect effects of environmental change on animal populations owing to limited information about vegetation at large temporal and spatial scales. The rapidly increasing use of the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) in ecological studies has recently changed this situation. Here, we review the use of the NDVI in recent ecological studies and outline its possible key role in future research of environmental change in an ecosystem context.

...read moreread less

2,493 citations

"High spatial resolution three-dimen..." refers background or methods in this paper

...6 phenology and dynamics (Morisette et al., 2008; Pettorelli et al., 2005; Zhang & Goldberg, 2011) and high spatial resolution, near surface observations obtained with regular digital cameras can provide more detailed information to help link ground and satellite based observations (Graham et al....
[...]
...NDVI measured with satellite remote sensing provides strong predictions of ecosystem phenology and dynamics (Morisette et al., 2008; Pettorelli et al., 2005; Zhang & Goldberg, 2011) and high spatial resolution, near surface observations obtained with regular digital cameras can provide more…...
[...]