Southern Research Station

Title: Development of a digital camera tree evaluation system

Author: Clark, Neil; Schmoldt, Daniel L.; Araman, Philip A.

Date: 2000

Source: Proceedings, Society of American Foresters 1999 National Convention. 495-497

Description: Within the Strategic Plan for Forest Inventory and Monitoring (USDA Forest Service 1998), there is a call to "conduct applied research in the use of [advanced technology] towards the end of increasing the operational efficiency and effectiveness of our program". The digital camera tree evaluation system is part of that research, aimed at decreasing field time and increasing the informational value and reliability of field data. Our approach started with the use of a commercially available, non-metric digital camera for obtaining diameter and height measurements from individual stems. The lessons learned from these original attempts have shown that this concept is feasible, and helped to indicate specific areas needing improvement. Methodological improvements to be made include using convergent images and digital range information to account for tree lean and investigation into ways to address the faulty assumption of a circular (or elliptical) cross section. A completely new field-ready, durable, self contained instrument is being constructed that will digitally output image, 3 axis inclination, and range data; and compatible software is being developed to process this data and output information according to user requirements.

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Citation

Clark, Neil; Schmoldt, Daniel L.; Araman, Philip A.  2000.  Development of a digital camera tree evaluation system.   Proceedings, Society of American Foresters 1999 National Convention. 495-497