Individual tree crown (ITC) techniques

• Individual tree crown (ITC) delineation: Identification, and regrouping in high spatial resolution (30-100 cm/pixel) aerial and satellite multispectral images
• Individual tree crown delineation: A valley-following approach
• Individual tree crown multispectral classification in high spatial resolution images
• Supervised classification of automatically delineated tree crowns at different spatial resolutions
• Regrouping tree crowns into forest stands (or environmental strata) and obtaining detailed information about their content

---

Individual tree crown delineation: A valley-following approach

A representative section (100 pixels x 100 lines) of:

1. the original MEIS image (31 cm/pixel). Larger image [19 kb GIF]
2. the initial tree crown isolation by the valley-following program ITCVFOL. Larger image [5 kb GIF]
3. the more complete crown delineation by the rule-based program ITCISOL. Larger image [5 kb GIF]

In one study (Gougeon, 1995c), at 31cm/pixel, 81% of the automatically delineated tree crowns were the same as those obtained by a visual interpretation of the imagery. The automatic tree counts from the image were within 8% of the counts done on the ground.

---