Abstract
IFER—Institute of Forest Ecosystem Research, Cs. armady 655,Jilove u Prahy 254 01, Czech RepublicAbstract. Automatic mapping of tree crown size (radius, diameter, or width) from remote sens-ing can provide a major benefit for practical and scientific purposes, but requires the develop-ment of accurate methods. This study presents an improved method for average tree crowndiameter estimation at a forest plot level from high-resolution airborne data. The improvedmethod consists of the combination of a window binarization procedure and a granulometricalgorithm, and avoids the complicated crown delineation procedure that is currently used toestimate crown size. The systematic error in average crown diameter estimates is correctedwith the improved method. The improved method is tested with coniferous, beech, andmixed-species forest plots based on airborne images of various spatial resolutions. The absolute(quantitative) accuracy of the improved crown diameter estimates is comparable or higher forboth monospecies plots and mixed-species plots than the current methods. The ability of theimproved method to produce good estimates for average crown diameters for monocultureand mixed species, to use remote sensing data of various spatial resolution and to operate inautomatic mode promisingly suggests its applicability to a wide range of forest systems.
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