Single tree species classification with a hypothetical multi-spectral satellite

摘要

The requirements for high resolution multi-spectral satellite images to be used in single tree species classification for forest inventories are investigated, especially with respect to spatial resolution, sensor noise and geo-registration. In the hypothetical setup, a 3D tree crown map is first obtained from very high resolution panchromatic aerial imagery and subsequently each crown is classified into one of a set of known tree species such that the difference between a model multi-spectral image generated from the 3D crown map and an acquired multi-spectral satellite image of the forested area is minimized. The investigation is conducted partly by generating synthetic data from a 3D crown map from a real mixed forest stand and partly on hypothetical high resolution multi-spectral satellite images obtained from very high resolution colour infrared aerial photographs, allowing different hypothetical spatial resolutions. Conclusions are that until a new generation of even higher resolution satellites becomes available, the most feasible source of remote sensing data for single tree classification will be aerial platforms. (C) 2007 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.