Phone-based measurements provide fast, accurate information about the health of forests - University of Cambridge
Researchers have developed an algorithm that uses computer vision techniques to accurately measure trees almost five times faster than traditional, manual methods.
The researchers, from the University of Cambridge, developed the algorithm, which gives an accurate measurement of tree diameter, an important measurement used by scientists to monitor forest health and levels of carbon sequestration.
The algorithm uses low-cost, low-resolution LiDAR sensors that are incorporated into many mobile phones, and provides results that are just as accurate, but much faster, than manual measurement techniques. The results are reported in the journal Remote Sensing.
The primary manual measurement used in forest ecology is tree diameter at chest height. These measurements are used to make determinations about the health of trees and the wider forest ecosystem, as well as how much carbon is being sequestered.
While this method is reliable, since the measurements are taken from the ground, tree by tree, the method is time-consuming. In addition, human error can lead to variations in measurements.
“When you’re trying to figure out how much carbon a forest is sequestering, these ground-based measurements are hugely valuable, but also time-consuming,” said first author Amelia Holcomb from Cambridge’s Department of Computer Science and Technology. “We wanted to know whether we could automate this process.”
Since their measurement tool requires no specialised training and uses sensors that are already incorporated into an increasing number of phones, the researchers say that it could be an accurate, low-cost tool for forest measurement, even in complex forest conditions.
The researchers plan to make their app publicly available for Android phones later this spring.
Access the paper: Amelia Holcomb, Linzhe Tong, and Srinivasan Keshav. ‘Robust Single-Image Tree Diameter Estimation with Mobile Phones.’ Remote Sensing (2023). DOI: 10.3390/rs15030772
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Posted On: 07/03/2023