Usage of Structure-from-Motion for Urban Forest Inventory

In this paper, we evaluated the urban trees reconstruction and diameter at breast height(DBH) measurements by SfM based on a circular urban forest plot(radius = 6 m) to verify the feasibility for urban forest inventory. Furthermore, hand-held laser scanning was also used as a counterpart technique. The results indicated that SfM can obtain DBH of urban trees with satisfying accuracy for urban forest inventory measurements(rRMSE = 5.38%, rBias= 2.74%), which was similar to the hand-held laser scanner(rRMSE = 3.35%, rBias = 1.04%). Both of the evaluated DBH from SfM and hand-held laser scanner were highly and positively correlated with that from field measurements( R ²>0.97). SfM is a revolutionary, low-cost, and user-friendly technique, which can also meet the requirements of tree-parameter precision. Thus, the SfM technique is valuable in urban tree inventory.