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International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences, Vol XXXV, Part B6. Istanbul 2004
GIS Consortium (OGC) are implemented in the baseline of
research facilities. Then, as a part of the research, additional
web services are built on top, facilitating the use of the baseline
services.
The current research program of the division is focusing on
themes such as
* Data quality and data usability
* Environmental modelling
e Real-time and mobile systems
e Metadata and SDI’s
During the period, around 25 MSc theses and 30 BSc theses
have been completed.
4.4 Address
Luleà University of Technology
SE-971 87 Luleà, Sweden
Home page: www.luth.se
5. THE REMOTE SENSING LABORATORY,
DEPARTMENT OF FOREST RESOURCE
MANAGEMENT AND GEOMATICS, SWEDISH
UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE SCIENCE, UMEA
5.1 Organisation
The Remote Sensing Laboratory currently has a staff of about
20 persons. The fields of activity are teaching in GIS and
remote sensing, research in forestry remote sensing, but also
operational environmental monitoring.
5.2 Research
One research field has been the use of spatial statistics for
combining forestry field plot information and image data into
spatially continuous raster databases. A PhD thesis has been
finalized (Wallerman 2003), where the performance of different
statistical methods has been compared.
Another very active research field has been laser scanning of
forest resources. Both stand level and single tree level methods
for estimating forest parameters have been developed. At stand
level, forest stem volume can be estimated with an accuracy of
about 10 — 15 % RMSE, which is better than other remote
sensing methods. At single tree level, tree height and canopy
diameter can be measured with an accuracy of about 0,6 m for
about 70 % of the trees in a forest stand (Persson et al., 2002).
This research was done in co-operation with the Swedish
Defense Research Institute, FOI. A PhD thesis about laser
scanning of forest resources was finalized (Holmgren, 2003). In
connection to that event, the first European scientific workshop
about laser scanning of forest resources was also held (Hyyppä
et al, 2003). Research is also ongoing in the field of single tree
detection in optical imagery, using template matching
techniques.
The radar remote sensing research has under the period been
concentrated on VHF SAR, using the Swedish CARABAS-II
sensor. The research has been carried out in co-operation with
FOI, Chalmers University of Technology, and the company
Dianthus. Robust results on stem volume estimation for mature
boreal coniferous forests have been demonstrated at a number
of test sites, without any signs of saturation of the radar signal
for high stem volumes. Furthermore, a pilot study has been
carried out with the objective to assess this capability in an
operational scenario. A fully integrated production line has
265
been developed for this purpose, i.e. to derive forest variables in
the end-user data format from the VHF SAR data acquisitions
(Fransson et al. 2002).
5.3 Development
It is now possible to receive GPS positions from animals via
cell phone technology. Using co-ordinates from moose with
GPS collars, and raster maps of forest variables derived from
satellite images, the habitat selection of moose have been
studied (Dettki et al, 2002).
In the field of operational environmental monitoring, the group
has finalized a number of forestry related products which are
based on the combined use of a nation wide coverage of
Landsat TM data, digital map masks, and about 50 000 GPS
positioned, 10 m radius, national forest inventory plots. All
products have in common that the images and field plots also
are processed together in a pre-processing chain, where slope
effects, within-scene haze differences, and the effects of
geometric errors, have been reduced. The products developed to
date are: a nationwide forest classification, used in the national
version of the CORINE database; continuous estimates of forest
variables (mainly volume per species) for 25 m pixels (Reese et
al, 2003); and routines for improving the results from the
sample plot based national forest inventory using post-
stratification. The products have been financed by a number of
national authorities.
Finally, staff from the remote sensing laboratory is also
participating in the interpretation of air photos for a systematic
sample of 600, 5 * 5 km areas in Sweden. The purpose of the
project, called National Inventory of Landscapes in Sweden, is
to establish a foundation for monitoring of landscape
development. The interpretation is done in digital
photogrammetric workstations.
5.4 Address
The Department of Forest Resource Management and
Geomatics, SLU.
SE-901 83 Umeä, Sweden
Home page: www.resgeom.slu.se/eng/avdelningar/Fjarranalys/
5.5 Key publications
Fransson, J.E.S., Frolind, P.-O., Gustavsson, A., Smith, G.,
Ulander, L.M.H., and Walter, F. 2002. Introducing VHF SAR
data in forestry applications. In Proceedings of ISPRS 2002
Conference, 29th International Symposium on Remote Sensing
of Environment, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 8-12 April, 2002, 6
pages (CD-ROM).
Dettki, H., Lófstrand, R., and Edenius, L. 2003. Modeling
habitat suitability for moose in costal northern Sweden.
Empirical vs. Process-oriented Approaches. Ambio 32:549-556.
Holmgren, J. 2003. Estimation of forest variables using airborne
laser scanning. Acta Universitatis Agriculturae Suecia,
Silvestria 278.
Hyyppd, J., Nasset, E., Olsson, H., Granqvist Pahlén, T., and
Reese, H. Proceedings of the Scandlaser Scientific workshop on
airborne laser scanning of forests. Working paper 112.
Department of forest resource management and geomatics,
Swedish university of agricultural sciences.
