Effect of spatial resolution of UAV aerial images on height estimation of wild pistachio (Pistacia atlantica Desf.) trees

Document Type : Research article

Authors

1 Associate Prof., Deptartment of Remote Sensing and GIS, Faculty of Geography, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

2 M.Sc., Deptartment of Natural Resources and Environment, School of Agriculture, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran

3 Associate Prof., Deptartment of Civil and Environmental Engineering, College of Engineering, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran

Abstract

Estimation of allometric tree attributes such as heights that are not directly observed on unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) imagery is challenging. Therefore, this study aimed to introduce a method to estimate the height of wild pistachio (Pistacia atlantica Desf.) single trees in the Zagros region. Therefore, a 45-ha area in Baneh Research Forest of Fars province was captured by a Phantom IV UAV. An algorithm was then suggested to consider the difference between pixels of ground and crown top as tree height on the digital surface model (DSM) following automatic single tree detection. The heights of 100 trees were estimated on DSMs with spatial resolutions of 3.47, 10, 20, 40, 60, 80, and 100 cm. The results showed that the highest coefficient of determination of 0.89 and the lowest relative root mean square error of 11.8% were returned for heights estimated on DSM with 3.47 cm spatial resolution. Moreover, no significant difference was observed among measured and estimated height values on spatial resolutions of 3.47, 10, and 20 cm, respectively. The tree heights were overestimated on DSM with a spatial resolution of 3.47 cm (bias score 1.15), while they were close to the measured values on 10 cm spatial resolution (bias score 1.01) and were underestimated in other spatial resolutions. In general, the results showed the feasibility to estimate heights of wild pistachio trees on Phantom IV imagery, in particular on UAV imagery with a 10 cm spatial resolution.

Keywords

References

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