Documente Academic
Documente Profesional
Documente Cultură
Johan Holmgren
a,
*
, A
sa Persson
b,1
a
Department of Forest Resource Management and Geomatics, Remote Sensing Laboratory, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences,
SE 90183, Umea, Sweden
b
Department of Laser Systems, Swedish Defence Research Agency, Sweden
Received 6 February 2003; received in revised form 4 April 2003; accepted 21 May 2003
Abstract
Individual trees can be detected using high-density airborne laser scanner data. Also, variables characterizing the detected trees such as
tree height, crown area, and crown base height can be measured. The Scandinavian boreal forest mainly consists of Norway spruce (Picea
abies L. Karst.), Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.), and deciduous trees. It is possible to separate coniferous from deciduous trees using near-
infrared images, but pine and spruce give similar spectral signals. Airborne laser scanning, measuring structure and shape of tree crowns
could be used for discriminating between spruce and pine. The aim of this study was to test classification of Scots pine versus Norway spruce
on an individual tree level using features extracted from airborne laser scanning data. Field measurements were used for training and
validation of the classification. The position of all trees on 12 rectangular plots (50 20 m
2
) were measured in field and tree species was
recorded. The dominating species (>80%) was Norway spruce for six of the plots and Scots pine for six plots. The field-measured trees were
automatically linked to the laser-measured trees. The laser-detected trees on each plot were classified into species classes using all laser-
detected trees on the other plots as training data. The portion correctly classified trees on all plots was 95%. Crown base height estimations of
individual trees were also evaluated (r = 0.84). The classification results in this study demonstrate the ability to discriminate between pine and
spruce using laser data. This method could be applied in an operational context. In the first step, a segmentation of individual tree crowns is
performed using laser data. In the second step, tree species classification is performed based on the segments. Methods could be developed in
the future that combine laser data with digital near-infrared photographs for classification with the three classes: Norway spruce, Scots pine,
and deciduous trees.
D 2003 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Laser; Tree detection; Species classification; Crown base height
1. Introduction
Automatic measurements with high precision of position,
height, and crown diameter of individual trees have been
performed using airborne laser scanning in the forests of
Europe (e.g., Hyyppa, Kelle, Lehikoinen, & Inkinen, 2001;
Persson, Holmgren, & Soderman, 2002; Schardt, Ziegler,
Wimmer, Wack, & Hyyppa, 2002). High-resolution laser
scanning data is typically used to automatically generate a
digital canopy model that describes the outer contour of the
tree crowns. The airborne laser scanning technique can
supply forest monitoring and management planning with
information of most trees (e.g., position and tree size),
which earlier was impossible to achieve with the same
efficiency and precision. In many forest applications, it is
important to know the tree species. Because the Swedish
forests consist of 42% Norway spruce (Picea abies L.
Karst.), 39% Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.), and 19%
deciduous (Anon, 2002), classification into these three
species classes would be useful for several applications
related to planning of forest management activities. Know-
ing the species of individual trees is also useful for three-
dimensional (3D) visualization of the forest landscape and
for monitoring ecosystem functions.
Recent development of the Global Positioning System
(GPS) and Inertial Navigation Systems (INS) now makes it
possible to determine the orientation of a sensor with high
precision without using any ground control points. Several
types of airborne sensors, e.g., digital frame cameras,
airborne laser scanners, and multi-spectral scanners, are
therefore becoming more operational for identification and
0034-4257/$ - see front matter D 2003 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/S0034-4257(03)00140-8
* Corresponding author. Fax: +46-90-778116.
E-mail addresses: Johan.Holmgren@resgeom.slu.se (J. Holmgren),
asa.persson@foi.se (A
. Persson).
1
Fax: +46-13-378287.
www.elsevier.com/locate/rse
Remote Sensing of Environment 90 (2004) 415423
classification of objects on the ground. Some researchers
have been developing algorithms for tree detection and
classification from high-resolution images. To automatically
find individual trees in aerial images, several methods have
been developed (e.g., Brandtberg & Walter, 1998; Dralle,
1997; Erikson, 2001; Gougeon, 1999; Pollock, 1996). For
tree species classification, features describing branch struc-
ture, crown shape, and color have been extracted from low-
altitude aerial images (e.g., Brandtberg, 1999, 2002).
Airborne laser scanners have been tested for estimation
of tree species-proportions in forest stands. Torma (2000)
concluded that only using 3D-coordinates was not enough
for estimating tree species-proportions with high accuracy in
forest stands. Torma proposed that better results would
probably be achieved with detection of single trees and by
using intensity data from the laser. In Finland, a vector
model of individual trees based on laser data has been
developed (Pyysalo & Hyyppa, 2002). This vector model
could be used for tree species classification.
In this study, the objectives were to (1) find features in
laser data useful for discriminating between Scots pine (P.
sylvestris L.) and Norway spruce (P. abies L. Karst.) and; (2)
validate the classification in different forest types. Discrim-
ination between the two tree species used the following
strategy. First, segmentation of individual trees was done
using the digital canopy model generated from laser data.
Second, tree height and crown area were derived. Third, a
number of variables were extracted from the laser data to
separate between segments with pine and spruce trees by
finding typical characteristics of the crown shape and
structure. For operational classification of Norway spruce,
Scots pine and deciduous trees, it would be an advantage to
combine the laser scanner with a sensor which measures the
reflectance of near-infrared light. Near-infrared images are
useful for separating between conifers and deciduous trees
while conifers usually reflect a similar amount of near-
infrared light (Lillesand & Kiefer, 1994). For example,
Meyer, Staenz, and Itten (1996) classified tree species of
individual trees using near-infrared photos where segments
with individual tree crowns had been manually digitized.
They report classification accuracies of 100% for both beech
(Fagus sylvatica L.) and Silver fir (Abies alba Mill.) but
lower classification accuracies for spruce and pine. Thus,
laser-generated segments with deciduous trees could be
separated from conifers using values of the pixels within
the segment from near-infrared imagery and laser data,
capturing tree shape and branch structure, could be used
to separate between Scots pine and Norway spruce.
2. Data collection
2.1. Study area
The test area Remningstorp located in Sweden (lat.
58j30VN, long. 13j40VE) was used. The most common
tree species were Norway spruce (P. abies L. Karst.),
Scots pine (P. sylvestris L.) and birch (Betula spp.). The
area had a variation in elevation of 120145 m above sea
level.
2.2. Laser data
Laser data used in this study was a subset of the laser
data used in an earlier study and is described in Persson et
al. (2002): The laser data acquisition was performed on 13
September 2000 using TopEye, an airborne laser scanning
system operated from a helicopter. The Laser Range Finder
(LRF) measures the distance between the helicopter and the
target up to 7000 times per second (Sterner, 1997). By
combining sensor position data from the GPS and the INS,
the attitude of the scanner, and distance measurements from
the LRF, the system produced up to two geo-referenced xyz
positions for each laser sounding with an absolute accuracy
of 0.100.30 m (Sterner, 1997). The pulsed laser (1064 nm)
beam moves across the helicopter track controlled by the
scanner and along track through the forward motion of the
helicopter. The resulting pattern on the ground is thus z-
shaped. The post-processing system calculates the position
of the reflecting object, the slant range, and the scanning
angle. The position of the reflecting object is derived from
the first and last peak of the returning pulse. Kinematic GPS
was used with a base station placed in an open area within
the measuring area. Laser measurements were made from
five parallel flight lines in a northsouth direction with a
length of 20002500 m and a distance between the flight
lines of 200 m. In the current study, only the beam
divergence of 1 mrad and the flight altitude 130 m above
ground was used. The footprint diameter given the beam
divergence and flight altitude was 0.26 m on ground. The
flight speed was 16 m/s, the scan mirror frequency 16.67
Hz, and the scan width F20j. The distance was according
to the flight specification 0.44 m between the laser-hits on
the ground within a scan line and 0.48 m between scan lines
at nadir.
2.3. Field data
Twelve rectangular field plots (50 20 m
2
) were placed
along the flight lines. The same measurements of tree
position, tree height and tree species recordings were used
as in Persson et al. (2002). The forest consisted of middle
and old aged (42115 years) spruce and pine (Table 1). Six
of the plots were dominated (>80%) by Norway spruce and
six by Scots pine. For all trees ( z0.05 m stem diameter at
1.3 m above ground) within the plots, the stem diameter
was measured and the tree species recorded. Relative to
two reference points in the nearest open area for each plot,
the position of the center of these tree stems was measured
(1.3 m above ground) using a total station. The outline of
each plot was determined in the same way as the position
of the individual trees and the positions of the reference
J. Holmgren, A
2
by y
0
2
c 1
where the center of the surface (x
0
, y
0
) was placed at the
laser-determined stem position. The laser data were con-
verted into a raster layer with a cell size of 0.05 m. Only the
DCM surface points were used and the points were weight-
ed according to their relative height (RH). The relative
height was defined as the height above ground divided by
maximum laser reflection point height above ground within
the segment. The weight (w
i
) was 100 for 0.9 VRH, 3 for
0.8 VRH< 0.9, 1 for 0.7 VRH< 0.8, and 0.1 for RH< 0.7.
Fig. 2. Laser data for a spruce and a pine tree. (o) Represents surface hits,
(*) represents within crown hits, and dots represents ground hits.
Fig. 1. (a) Digital Canopy Model (DCM) used for the segmentation, and (b) segmentation result.
J. Holmgren, A
m
T
i
1
i
m
i
m
T
i
1
i
x
1
2
x
T
1
i
x i 1; 2 4
3.4. Evaluation method
Each detected tree in laser data was automatically linked to
the corresponding field-measured tree in the same way as in
Persson et al. (2002): For each segment, three different cases
could occur: (1) no field tree was within the segment, (2) one
field tree was within the segment, and (3) more than one field
tree were within the segment. For case (1), the segment was
judged as a segment that had no field tree. For case (2), the
field tree was linked to the laser-detected tree. For case (3),
the field tree that was closest to the position of the laser-
detected tree was linked to the tree. When the laser trees and
the field trees had been linked with the rules above, each field
Fig. 4. Laser-measured crown base height plotted against field-measured
crown base height, 135 trees.
Fig. 5. The overall accuracy for the tree species classification with the linear discriminant function classification plotted against the number of variables for all
possible combinations of the eight selected variables.
J. Holmgren, A