Determination of the spatial distribution of trees from digital aerial photographs

Abstract

This study examined the possibilities of using computerized digital aerial photograph interpretation in determining the spatial distribution of trees. The material of the study included eight mapped stands in the municipality of Hyytiälä (61°50′N and 24°18′E), in southern Finland. The aerial photographs used were taken in June 1995 at a scale of 1:5000. Two approaches for determining the spatial pattern of trees were used. Firstly, in the point-process based approach used in this study, the individual trees in the digital aerial photograph were segmented by a robust segmentation method, based on recognition of the pattern of tree crowns with sub-pixel accuracy. Secondly, the crown coverage was determined by region growing segmentation combined with active surface representation. The significance of the differences in the means of image coverage pattern indices between the various spatial distribution categories was tested with one-way variance analysis. Because the process misclassified clustered spatial patterns as regular patterns, and regular patterns as random patterns, the usability of digital aerial photographs seems to be limited for the point-process based determination of the spatial pattern of trees if the scale is 1:5000 or less. When image coverage pattern indices were applied, the differences in the means of the spatial distribution categories proved not to be clearly statistically significant due to the great variation within classes. However, interpretation of crown coverage could have applications in practical forestry due to the low resolution requirements for the images used.