1401 
MATCHING OF HIGH RESOLUTION SATELLITE IMAGE AND TREE CROWN MAP 
Mamoru Kubo and Ken-ichiro Muramoto 
School of Electrical and Computer Engineering 
Kanazawa University 
Kakuma-machi, Kanazawa 920-1192, Japan - 
kubo@ec.t.kanazawa-u.ac.jp, muramoto@t.kanazawa-u.ac.jp 
Commission WG IV/9 
KEY WORDS: Photogrammetry, Forestry, Matching, Registration, IKONOS 
ABSTRACT: 
In forest area, there are few landmarks to be ground control points (GCPs) used for registration of satellite images or maps. Additionally, 
geographic information from the Global Positioning System (GPS) in field measurement survey is insufficient accuracy to identify 
individual tree crowns from satellite image. In this study, we propose the method of identifying individual tree crowns from satellite 
image using field measured data. First, in order to obtain the field measured data, we collected several information of individual 
trees in the test site. These are the tree stand locations, the distances between the tree trunk and outermost branch in eight directions, 
the diameter at breast height, and tree species. Then, using the field measured data, we created the projected on-ground crown map 
which has the location and shape of individual trees. The each shape of tree crown is octagonal. Next, we detected the regions of tree 
crown from IKONOS panchromatic image. Watershed algorithm was used for image segmentation, based on mathematical morphology 
considers gray-scale images to be sets of points in a three-dimensional space, the third dimension being the gray level. The segmented 
regions were classified to discriminate tree crown using the feature of spectral signature. Finally, we found out individual tree crowns 
related with field measured data from satellite image. Using a GCP by GPS equipment, we performed roughly registration of the 
satellite image to the projected on-ground crown map. For each tree crown in the map, we found out the same tree, which has the 
highest corresponding possibility to the tree crown in the map, among segmented regions obtained from satellite image. This tree- 
to-tree matching algorithm was performed using the fitness value of the location and octagonal shape of both tree crowns in image 
and map. We could obtain the optimum registration by affine transformation of highest fitness value without ground control points. 
Consequently, we could identify individual tree crowns from satellite image by image-to-map rectification. 
1 INTRODUCTION 
Forest composed of many trees has an important role in main 
taining environmental conditions suitable for life on the earth. 
Satellite remote sensing technology is the effective method for 
management and monitoring of forest resources. 
In recent years, high spatial resolution satellites were launched, 
thereby it is possible to obtain detailed information about earth’s 
surface. The IKONOS satellite image can recognize and identify 
an individual tree crown, it is suitable to monitor a forest covering 
wide-area. In order to obtain forest management inventories at 
the stand level, IKONOS satellite images are analyzed instead 
of the interpretation of aerial photographs(Gougeon and Leckie, 
2006). 
To identify tree crown detected from satellite image using field 
measured data, we requires high-accuracy image-to-map recti 
fication. However, geographic information from GPS in field 
survey is insufficient accuracy to identify individual tree crowns 
from satellite image. Additionally, in forest area, there are few 
landmarks to be GCPs used for registration of satellite images or 
maps. 
In this study, we propose the method to identify individual tree 
crown from satellite image by image-to-map rectification. This 
method is useful for forest management and monitoring. 
2 DATA SET 
The Kitasaku test site of this study is located in the deciduous 
mixed forest of Nagano prefecture in Japan. This area is 140 
meter from west to east and 60 meter from north to south. In 
this site, there are two flux towers to measure the exchanges of 
carbon dioxide between forest and atmosphere. In addition, the 
grid of 10 meter mesh is constructed using piles labeled alphabet 
and numeric characters. The illustration of this site is shown in 
Figure 1. 
2.1 Field Measured Data 
Field measurement survey was carried out on 28 Octorber 2007. 
102 canopy trees with height of 16 to 18 meter were selected in 
order to create the projected on-ground map. The relative location 
of the tree in this area is acquired by measuring the location in 
the labeled block where the tree stands. The following are the 
measurement parameters of each canopy tree in this survey: 
(1) tree stand location (x, y) in the labeled block; 
(2) distances between the tree trunk and outermost branch in 
eight directions (N, NE, E, SE, S, SW, W, NW); 
(3) diameter at breast height. 
The positional information of the flux tower was also recorded. 
The illustration of the field survey is shown in Figure 1. 
2.2 Satellite Image 
The satellite data used in this study is an IKONOS panchromatic 
image. The spatial resolution of analysis image is 1 meter by 
pixel. It can be recognized and identified an individual tree crown