Tree height quantification using very high resolution imagery acquired from an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and automatic 3D photo-reconstruction methods

Estimating tree heights with images from an unmanned aerial vehicle

“…There have been several studies on the use of airborne LiDAR platforms in forest areas that show accurate results (Breindenbach et al 2010;Gleason & Im 2012) with the use of Unmanned aerial vehiclesLiDAR (UAV-LiDAR) platforms (Wallace et al 2014a;Wallace et al 2014b) and even with spaceborne LiDAR platforms (Selkowitz et al 2012). However, short flight sessions and the high cost of these surveys with experienced personnel prevent continuous studies (Wallace et al 2012;Zarco-Tejada et al 2014). There have also been studies with the satellite images (Gougeon & Lecke 2006;Takahashi et al 2012) based on forest structure and the spatial resolution of the satellite images; the results are less precise but useful for large areas.…”

“…In recent decades, UAVs equipped with consumer-grade cameras have provided the most convenient approaches for inventory, monitoring, and modelling applications (Selkowitz et al 2012;Zarco-Tejada et al 2014). Lightweight UAV platforms (<2 kg) can fly longer than airborne LiDAR and UAV-LiDAR platforms, which helps reduce survey costs.…”

“…Miniaturized UAV payloads with consumer-grade cameras, global positioning system devices, and embedded computer systems provide images with geometrical deformations and are generally of poorer quality than traditional metric systems used on airborne platforms (Berni et al 2009;Zarco-Tejada et al 2014). Several methodologies like structure-from-notion (SfM) and multiviewstereo must be performed to correct for these issues (Strecha et al 2008;K€ ung et al 2011;Remondino et al 2011;James & Robson 2012;Vallet et al 2012;Fritz et al 2013;Zarco-Tejada et al 2014).…”

“…Several methodologies like structure-from-notion (SfM) and multiviewstereo must be performed to correct for these issues (Strecha et al 2008;K€ ung et al 2011;Remondino et al 2011;James & Robson 2012;Vallet et al 2012;Fritz et al 2013;Zarco-Tejada et al 2014). Traditionally, airborne photogrammetric acquisition of images has been used to obtain canopy heights (Waser et al 2008;Wallerman et al 2012) with on-board digital mapping cameras.…”

Cicada (&lt;i&gt;Magicicada&lt;/i&gt;) Tree Damage Detection Based on UAV Spectral and 3D Data

“…The main advantages of the UAV are the low cost of acquisition [19,20], possibility of frequent monitoring [21,22], adaptability to carry various sensors, as thermal, infrared and multispectral cameras or even Lidar scanners [19,[23][24][25], the high resolution obtained [19,23,26], and the development of processing software focused on the automatic reconstruction of surfaces using the UAV data [27,28]. An example of surface reconstruction has been in forest structure [29].…”