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Trees of green: constructing panels of tree canopy from aerial imagery

Author

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  • Alba Miñano-Mañero

Abstract

This paper develops a fully-automated workflow for constructing panels of tree canopy from high-resolution multispectral imagery with limited near-infrared (NIR) training data. The proposed workflow utilizes the tree-pixel detection algorithm developed by Yang,Wu, Praun, and Ma (2009) and Bosch (2020) on a large set of U.S. urban areas but modifies it by creating automatic ground-truth masks through various visual graphics techniques that leverage modern high-resolution NIR data. By matching colors across different imagery periods, the workflow predicts tree presence in older images without NIR data, using the recent images with NIR data. Using a subset of cities that represent the different U.S. climate regions, I quantify the effectiveness of the workflow by implementing the algorithm without pre-processing in the creation of ground-truth masks, without equalizing colors across periods, and using a universal model for all areas. The comparison shows that my workflow is the option that leads to better results in terms of accuracy, recall, and precision.

Suggested Citation

  • Alba Miñano-Mañero, 2024. "Trees of green: constructing panels of tree canopy from aerial imagery," Working Papers REM 2024/0352, ISEG - Lisbon School of Economics and Management, REM, Universidade de Lisboa.
    • Handle: RePEc:ise:remwps:wp03522024
    as

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    File URL: https://rem.rc.iseg.ulisboa.pt/wps/pdf/REM_WP_0352_2024.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ben G Weinstein & Sarah J Graves & Sergio Marconi & Aditya Singh & Alina Zare & Dylan Stewart & Stephanie A Bohlman & Ethan P White, 2021. "A benchmark dataset for canopy crown detection and delineation in co-registered airborne RGB, LiDAR and hyperspectral imagery from the National Ecological Observation Network," PLOS Computational Biology, Public Library of Science, vol. 17(7), pages 1-18, July.
    2. Jones, Benjamin A., 2021. "Planting urban trees to improve quality of life? The life satisfaction impacts of urban afforestation," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    3. Kirsten Schwarz & Michail Fragkias & Christopher G Boone & Weiqi Zhou & Melissa McHale & J Morgan Grove & Jarlath O’Neil-Dunne & Joseph P McFadden & Geoffrey L Buckley & Dan Childers & Laura Ogden & S, 2015. "Trees Grow on Money: Urban Tree Canopy Cover and Environmental Justice," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(4), pages 1-17, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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    Keywords

    aerial imagery; tree detection; near-infrared light; panel data.;
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