Supporting multi-resolution out-of-core rendering of massive LiDAR point clouds through non-redundant data structures

In recent years, the evolution and improvement of LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) hardware has increased the quality and quantity of the gathered data, making the storage, processing and management thereof particularly challenging. In this work we present a novel, multi-resolution, out-of-core technique, used for web-based visualization and implemented through a non-redundant, data point organization method, which we call Hierarchically Layered Tiles (HLT), and a tree-like structure called Tile Grid Partitioning Tree (TGPT). The design of these elements is mainly focused on attaining very low levels of memory consumption, disk storage usage and network traffic on both, client and server-side, while delivering high-performance interactive visualization of massive LiDAR point clouds (up to 28 billion points) on multiplatform environments (mobile devices or desktop computers). HLT and TGPT were incorporated and tested in ViLMA (Visualization for LiDAR data using a Multi-resolution Approach), our own web-based visualization software specially designed to work with massive LiDAR point clouds.     

Classifying airborne LiDAR point clouds via deep features learned by a multi-scale convolutional neural network

Point cloud classification plays a critical role in many applications of airborne light detection and ranging (LiDAR) data. In this paper, we present a deep feature-based method for accurately classifying multiple ground objects from airborne LiDAR point clouds. With several selected attributes of LiDAR point clouds, our method first creates a group of multi-scale contextual images for each point in the data using interpolation. Taking the contextual images as inputs, a multi-scale convolutional neural network (MCNN) is then designed and trained to learn the deep features of LiDAR points across various scales. A softmax regression classifier (SRC) is finally employed to generate classification results of the data with a combination of the deep features learned from various scales. Compared with most of traditional classification methods, which often require users to manually define a group of complex discriminant rules or extract a set of classification features, the proposed method has the ability to automatically learn the deep features and generate more accurate classification results. The performance of our method is evaluated qualitatively and quantitatively using the International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing benchmark dataset, and the experimental results indicate that our method can effectively distinguish eight types of ground objects, including low vegetation, impervious surface, car, fence/hedge, roof, facade, shrub and tree, and achieves a higher accuracy than other existing methods.     

Influence of understory removal, thinning and P fertilization on N2fixation in a mature mesquite (Prosopis glandulosavar.glandulosa) stand

The natural abundance¹⁵N/¹⁴N method was used to estimate the influence of silvicultural and P fertilization treatments on N accretion, N₂fixation and N partitioning among tissues in a mature mesquiteProsopis glandulosavar.glandulosastand in Texas. The silvicultural treatments consisted of understory removal, herbicide treatment of brushy resprouts, thinning trees to single stems and 100 kg ha⁻¹P fertilization. The trees had a mean basal diameter of 17·8 cm with 8 to 35 cm range. The stand was slow growing with the increase in dry matter ranging from 0·465 Mg ha⁻¹year⁻¹to 0·701 Mg ha⁻¹year⁻¹for the 8 years after the treatments were applied. N accretion after 8 years ranged from 3·1 kg ha⁻¹year⁻¹to 4·4 kg ha⁻¹year⁻¹.Due to the range in δ¹⁵N of the leaves, twigs, branches and trunk, we used the weighted (by biomass) average δ¹⁵N per tree in calculations of the percent N derived from N₂fixation (%Ndfa). There was considerable variability in δ¹⁵N of the reference plants, i.e. from 3·3 to 5·9. In contrast there was low variability in the background δ¹⁵N of nearby soils (7·0±1·0). As the total above-ground biomass δ¹⁵N of a grass grown outside the influence of mesquite (7·8±0·58) had the same δ¹⁵N as the soil (7·5±1·0), we used the grass outside the influence of mesquite and the weighted tree mean δ¹⁵N to calculate % of N derived from N₂fixation.The decrease in intraspecific competition by thinning multistemed trees to single stemmed trees was the only treatment that significantly (p= 0·0001) increased growth. Interspecific competition, i.e. understory removal, did not increase growth. There were no significant differences in total N production or N fixation among treatment means. The most striking result was the highly positive correlation between tree δ¹⁵N and total N per tree and biomass per tree (R²= 0·90,F= 164·4, df. = 18, mean square error (MSE) = 0·155,p= 0·0001). This implies that the younger trees colonizing infertile soils relied more heavily on N₂fixation than larger trees which accumulated 1200 kg ha⁻¹more N under their canopies. The percentage N derived from N₂fixation ranged from 63 to 73% in the various treatments. Despite the high percentage of N derived from N₂fixation, the N₂fixation of the stand was very low, i.e. 1·98 to 2·80 kg N ha⁻¹year⁻¹, due to the low growth of the stand. We believe that comparisons of the whole tree weighted δ¹⁵N to background soil δ¹⁵N provides a more reasonable approach to estimate % N₂fixation than comparisons of leaves of fixers and reference plants.     

基于正交多项式的平原城区机载LiDAR数据滤波算法

从机载LiDAR点云数据中分离地面点与非地面点生成城区DEM,是构建数字城市的首要工作。该文对机载LiDAR数据处理中的滤波关键算法进行了研究。首先,利用常用的区域增长方法对机载LiDAR点云数据进行了滤波处理,然后基于正交多项式分带滤波方法进行了点云滤波,比较了两种算法的运行效率,分析了二者的特点,并通过试验对比进行了阈值参数优选,试验表明该算法具有较好的滤波效果,在平原城区的数字城市三维建模中具有很好的应用价值。     

Radial Growth and Increased Water-Use Efficiency for Ponderosa Pine Trees in Three Regions in the Western United States

We examined changes in and relationships between radial growth and intrinsic water-use efficiency (iWUE) of ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) trees, climate, and atmospheric CO₂ in the western United States since the mid-nineteenth century. We developed tree-ring chronologies for eight sites in three climate regions and used carbon isotope data to calculate pentadal values of iWUE. We examined relationships among radial growth, climate, iWUE, and CO₂ via correlation and regression analyses. Significant upward trends in iWUE occurred at all sites, and despite an absence of climate changes that would favor growth, upward radial growth trends occurred at five sites. Our findings suggest that increased iWUE associated with rising CO₂ can positively impact tree growth rates in the western United States and are thus an evolving component of forest ecosystem processes.     

城市激光点云语义分割典型方法对比研究

基于深度学习方法在城市激光点云语义分割任务中的应用效果缺乏客观的对比与评价,该文选取当前4种代表性点云语义分割深度网络(PointNet、PointNet++、PointCNN、SPG)以及一种基于特征描述子的层次化点云语义分割方法,采用3组开放点云数据集(Semantic 3D、Oakland及TerraMobilita/iQmulus3Durban)对不同方法的语义分割质量进行对比分析,结果发现:1)层次化点云语义分割方法的语义分割质量优于另外4种深度学习方法;2)考虑局部信息的深度网络(PointNet++、PointCNN、SPG)的表现优于仅考虑点云全局特征的方法(Point-Net);3)在基于深度学习的方法中,基于超点图的SPG网络在测试数据中的效果优于其他几种网络。研究结果对于实际应用选择点云语义分割方法以及点云语义分割深度网络的设计优化具有借鉴意义。     

陡坡密集点云双重滤波方法研究

用地形三维激光扫描仪监测陡坡表面的细微变化,关键技术之一是对原始点云的精确滤波,即从密集点云中准确滤除非地形点,保留真实地形点。针对地势陡峭、表面复杂、植被多、密度分布极不均匀的陡坡点云,笔者发展了一种双重滤波方法:在对原始点云进行投影面变换的基础上,采用变窗口均值限差法滤除明显的非地形点,完成粗滤波;通过局部区域增长法找出绝大多数地形点,以占优势的地形点为参考,用局部最小二乘曲面拟合法对剩余未分类数据点进行检核,分离出非地形点,完成精滤波。文中选用3个不同类型的陡坡点云实例验证了该方法对于陡坡密集点云具有良好的滤波效果。该算法对野外大场景三维激光扫描点云滤波也有一定的参考价值。     

Use of large Acacia trees by the cavity dwelling Black-tailed Tree Rat in the Southern Kalahari

Recent extensive harvesting of large, often dead Acacia trees in arid savanna of southern Africa is cause for concern about the conservation status of the arid savanna and its animal community. We mapped vegetation and nests of the Black-tailed Tree Rat Thallomys nigricauda to assess the extent to which the rats depend on particular tree species and on the existence of dead, standing trees. The study was conducted in continuous Acacia woodland on the southern and eastern edge of the Kalahari, South Africa. Trees in which there were tree rat nests were compared with trees of similar size and vigour to identify the characteristics of nest sites. Spatial analysis of tree rat distribution was conducted using Ripley's-L function. We found that T. nigricauda was able to utilize all available tree species, as long as trees were large and old enough so that cavities were existing inside the stem. The spatial distribution of nest trees did not show clumping at the investigated scale, and we therefore reject the notion of the rats forming colonies when inhabiting continuous woodlands. The selection of a particular tree as a nest site was furthermore depending on the close proximity of the major food plant, Acacia mellifera. This may limit the choice of suitable nest sites, since A. mellifera was less likely to grow within a vegetation patch containing a large trees than in patches without large trees.     

Long-term changes in the tree radial growth and intrinsic water-use efficiency of Chuanxi spruce (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Picea likiangensis var. balfouriana</Emphasis>) in southwestern China

Elevated CO₂ level in the atmosphere is expected to improve the tree growth rates and intrinsic water-use efficiency (iWUE). Although current results inferring from tree rings found the tree growth decline in water-limited area, it is still unclear whether spruce trees in humid southwestern China benefit from the increasing CO₂. In this study, tree-ring width data were used to investigate the tree radial growth rate of Chuanxi spruce (Picea likiangensis var. balfouriana). Moreover, combining with the tree-ring carbon isotope date, we analyzed the physiological responses of Chuanxi spruce to rising CO₂ concentrations in the atmosphere (Ca) associated with climatic change in southwestern China. From 1851 to 2009, iWUE of Chuanxi spruce rose by approximately 30.4%, and the ratio of atmospheric CO₂ to leaf intercellular CO₂ concentration (Ci/Ca) showed no significant trend in the study area. The result suggested that Chuanxi spruce used an active response strategy when Ca was significantly increased. iWUE showed a significant increasing trend in parallel with tree radial growth, indicating that the increasing iWUE resulted in an increase in radial growth. These results suggest that spruce forests in southwestern China have not shown declining trends under increasing Ca and climate change scenarios, in contrast to trees growing in water-limited areas. Therefore, spruce forests benefit from the increasing CO₂ in the atmosphere in the humid areas of southwestern China.     

Fluvial process and the establishment of bottomland trees

The effects of river regulation on bottomland tree communities in western North America have generated substantial concern because of the important habitat and aesthetic values of these communities. Consideration of such effects in water management decisions has been hampered by the apparent variability of responses of bottomland tree communities to flow alteration. When the relation between streamflow and tree establishment is placed in a geomorphic context, however, much of that variability is explained, and prediction of changes in the tree community is improved.The relation between streamflow and establishment of bottomland trees is conditioned by the dominant fluvial process or processes acting along a stream. For successful establishment, cottonwoods, poplars, and willows require bare, moist surfaces protected from disturbance. Channel narrowing, channel meandering, and flood deposition promote different spatial and temporal patterns of establishment. During channel narrowing, the site requirements are met on portions of the bed abandoned by the stream, and establishment is associated with a period of low flow lasting one to several years. During channel meandering, the requirements are met on point bars following moderate or higher peak flows. Following flood deposition, the requirements are met on flood deposits ;high above the channel bed. Flood deposition can occur along most streams, but where a channel is constrained by a narrow valley, this process may be the only mechanism that can produce a bare, moist surface high enough to be safe from future disturbance. Because of differences in local bedrock, tributary influence, or geologic history, two nearby reaches of the same stream may be dominated by different fluvial processes and have different spatial and temporal patterns of trees. We illustrate this phenomenon with examples from forests of plains cottonwood (Populus deltoides ssp. monilifera) along meandering and constrained reaches of the Missouri River in Montana.     

年轮化学示踪技术及在重现矿区重金属污染历史中的应用

矿区自然分布的树木从环境中吸收重金属元素,并在形成层发育过程中将重金属元素储存在年轮中,通过分析年轮中重金属元素含量的变化特征,可以半定量判定不同污染途径对年轮中重金属元素的贡献率,进而重现矿区环境变迁历史.本文综述了国内外年轮化学在环境污染分析中的应用案例,针对影响年轮化学分析精度的各种环境因素,结合矿区污染特征,探...     

An analysis of winter temperature and dew point under the canopy of a common Sonoran Desert nurse and the implications for positive plant interactions

Many studies have focused on positive-plant interactions such as nurse plants, which provide a sheltered subcanopy environment that benefits the nursed species. Most of these studies have focused on plant distribution and association patterns, while the microclimatic benefits are often assumed. This study quantifies 5 a.m. subcanopy temperatures as well as dew points beneath a common nurse tree of the Sonoran Desert, Cercidium microphyllum (palo verde, Fabaceae). Data are collected over 35 days in the winter (January and February) at six locations (at the base of the trunk, midway to the canopy edge, canopy edge, all to the north and to the south of the base of the tree) under each of two trees, as well as a control in the open.It is warmer beneath the tree than in the open, but also, it is warmer in the interior than at the canopy edge, and warmer to the south. Furthermore, differences in temperature between the subcanopy and the open site are greater on colder nights, and less pronounced on warmer winter nights, possibly due to the effect of cloud cover which often results in warmer overnight lows. In addition, variation in 5 a.m. temperature is greatest at the canopy edge and open, and temperature varies less in the interior where temperatures are also warmer. Subcanopy cover was quantified using fish-eye imagery. Results show that there is a significant relationship between 5 a.m. temperature and overlying cover.Dew point temperatures, surprisingly, were lower under the tree than at the canopy edge and in the open. That is, it is relatively dry under the nurse. This pattern can similarly be seen by distance and direction from the base of the tree (drier in the south). This may have to do with the nurse's roots and other vegetation growing beneath the nurse's canopy that compete for water in the ground, which leaves less available water to evaporate into the subcanopy air.     

A DENDROCHRONOLOGICAL METHOD OF STUDYING TREE MORTALITY PATTERNS

This study examines the use of dendrochronological crossdating to determine the dates of death of dead-standing coniferous trees in subalpine forests in the Colorado Rocky Mountains. We cored approximately 800 dead-standing Engelmann spruce (Picea engelmannii Parry ex Engelm.) and subalpine fir (Abies lasiocarpa [Hook.] Nutt.) in two stands and classified them into decay classes. We quantitatively and visually crossdated samples from the dead-standing trees against master chronologies derived from live trees of each species in each stand. The outermost ring on crossdated samples served as an estimate of the year in which a tree died. Seventy percent of the dead-standing trees crossdated successfully. The crossdating technique clearly identified a period of massive mortality of Engelmann spruce attributable to a spruce beetle infestation in the 1940s. This procedure effectively distinguishes between continuous and episodic patterns of tree mortality and compares the relative mortality rates of these coniferous species. Dendrochronological dating of tree deaths is a useful way of providing historical contexts for interpreting tree mortality data derived from short-term monitoring of permanent plots.     

Influence of multipurpose trees on agricultural crops in arid regions of Haryana, India

The effects of multipurpose trees on the productivity of agricultural crops were studied in the arid regions of Haryana. In one of the experiments, wheat was grown on irrigated farms having scattered trees ofDalbergia sissoo, Azadirachta indica, Prosopis cinerariaandAcacia nilotica. Data of wheat yield for each tree species at different distances (1, 3, 5, and 7 m) and four directions (East, West, North and South) from the tree bases and control (no trees) were collected. Results indicate thatAzadirachta indicaandProsopis cinerariadid not produce any significant difference in the wheat yield while the other two species (Dalbergia sissooandAcacia nilotica) gave a reduction in yield.A. niloticahad a more significant and prominent effect and a reduction of 40 to 60 % wheat yield was observed.Dalbergia sissooreduced yield by 4 to 30 % but the reduction was only up to a distance of 3 m. In general, the impact of trees on productivity was observed up to 3 m distance and there was little, if any, impact up to 5 m and almost no impact at 7 m.In another experiment,D. sissoo(18-years-old) was raised as windbreak and productivity of cotton was assessed. The tree belt reduced the wind speed by 15 to 45 %, depending on season and wind speed. The influence of trees on cotton yield was observed to be negative up to 2H (36 m), where H is tree height, i.e. 18 m. Cotton productivity was observed to be maximum between 2H and 5H. Depending upon orientation of tree belt, the increase in cotton yield was found to be 4 to 10 %.     

Mesquite (Prosopis juliflora (Sw.) DC.), huisache (Acacia farnesiana (L.) Willd.) and catclaw (Mimosa biuncifera Benth.) and their effect on dynamics of carbon and nitrogen in soils of the semi-arid highlands of Durango Mexico

In the northern semiarid and arid part of Mexico, mesquite (Prosopis juliflora (SW.) DC.), huisache (Acacia farnesiana (L.) Willd.) and catclaw (Mimosa biuncifera Benth.), N₂-fixing trees or shrubs, dominate the landscape. It is unknown, however, how much the leaves of those shrubs contribute to dynamics of carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) in soil. We investigated this by adding leaves of each species to soil sampled under the canopy of mesquite, huisache, and catclaw and outside their canopy while monitoring production of carbon dioxide (CO₂), and dynamics of inorganic N (ammonium (NH₄⁺) and nitrate (NO₃⁻)) in an aerobic incubation. The (hemi)cellulose and N content of the catclaw leaves was lower and the lignin and polyphenol content was larger than in the mesquite and huisache leaves. If we considered no priming effect, then 41% of the C added with catclaw leaves, 47% with huisache leaves and 49% with mesquite leaves mineralized within 42 days. The addition of the leaves had little or no effect on N mineralized, and only 6% of organic N of the mesquite leaves was mineralized. It was found that catclaw, huisache and mesquite have a positive effect on the arid and semi-arid ecosystems as they increased soil organic matter and soil N content.     

Using multi-scale and hierarchical deep convolutional features for 3D semantic classification of TLS point clouds

ABSTRACT

Point cloud classification, which provides meaningful semantic labels to the points in a point cloud, is essential for generating three-dimensional (3D) models. Its automation, however, remains challenging due to varying point densities and irregular point distributions. Adapting existing deep-learning approaches for two-dimensional (2D) image classification to point cloud classification is inefficient and results in the loss of information valuable for point cloud classification. In this article, a new approach that classifies point cloud directly in 3D is proposed. The approach uses multi-scale features generated by deep learning. It comprises three steps: (1) extract single-scale deep features using 3D convolutional neural network (CNN); (2) subsample the input point cloud at multiple scales, with the point cloud at each scale being an input to the 3D CNN, and combine deep features at multiple scales to form multi-scale and hierarchical features; and (3) retrieve the probabilities that each point belongs to the intended semantic category using a softmax regression classifier. The proposed approach was tested against two publicly available point cloud datasets to demonstrate its performance and compared to the results produced by other existing approaches. The experiment results achieved 96.89% overall accuracy on the Oakland dataset and 91.89% overall accuracy on the Europe dataset, which are the highest among the considered methods.     

Development of a cloud detection method from whole-sky color images

A method is proposed for detecting clouds from whole-sky color images obtained with an all-sky camera (ASC) system. In polar regions, cloud detection using whole-sky images usually suffers from large uncertainties in fractional cloud cover retrievals because of large solar zenith angles (SZAs) and high surface albedo, which cause “whitening” in the images. These problems are addressed by using differences between real images and virtual clear-sky images for a particular observation time with the same SZA. The method is applied to ASC images obtained at Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard in May of 2005–2007, and the results are compared with Micro-Pulse Lidar (MPL) measurements. When no clouds were detected by MPL, the false cloud detection rate from ASC classification was 2.1% in total hours. Conversely, when clouds were detected by MPL, the ASC classification underestimated the clouds by 11.6%. In most cases, this occurred when MPL detected very optically thin clouds. Furthermore, the variability of cloud fractions estimated by MPL and ASC was roughly constant regardless of the SZA. Thus, it is confirmed that the method developed in this study is valid for cloud detection from whole-sky color images.     

Estimation of Surface Temperature and Rainfall in Ghana

Geografisk Tidsskrift, Danish Journal of Geography 97: 76–85, 1997.

Daily Meteosat images for 1989 have been analysed for the purpose of mapping surface temperature and rainfall in Ghana. The images in the time-series are georeferenced and the maximum value composite (MVC) technique is applied to the temperature calibrated IR-channel images after a cloud screening of the images. The cloud covered areas are outlined and traced using the Meteosat visible channels. Stratiform clouds are detected using surface albedo while cumuliform clouds are detected based on a technique calculating the spatial variability within a 5 pixel by 5 pixel window around each point in the image. The cloud covered parts of the scene are then delimitated by comparing the normal albedo values and the spatial variance in albedo.

The paper then discusses how the outlined procedure can be applied in an environmental monitoring context. For each of the months June to November 1989 the mean monthly rainfall amounts at 35 meteorological stations are plotted against the mean surface temperature. It is found that apart from the month of June statistical significant linear relationships are obtained and that the scattering around the line is decreasing for increasing sampling length.     

Islands in a sea of sand: use of Acacia trees by tree skinks in the Kalahari Desert

In the Kalahari desert the tree skink Mabuya striata sparsa occupies Acacia trees separated by areas of open sand. On a single day in austral spring, the effects of tree size and structural complexity, presence of colonial nests of weavers, and fallen limbs on lizard abundance, and of time of day and air temperature on numbers of lizards active, location on trees, ground, or ground cover, and occupation of sunny, shaded, or partially shaded sites were examined. Multiple regression showed that the numbers of adult and total lizards increased with tree size, amount of ground cover, and air temperature. Neither number and size of sociable weaver nests nor complexity of tree shape affected lizard abundance. Proportions of lizards on trees and ground did not vary with time of day; neither did height above ground among individuals on trees. The proportions of lizards fully exposed to the sun was higher early and late in the day than at midday, when more lizards occupied shaded sites.     

Assessment of biophysical properties of Royal Belum tropical forest,Malaysia

The Royal Belum forest reserve is one of the oldest tropical rainforests in the world and it is one of the largest virgin forest reserves in Malaysia. However, not many studies have been conducted to understand the ecology of this forest. In this study we estimated the aboveground biomass (AGB) of the forest using diameter at breast height (DBH) and height of trees (h ), tree species and hemispherical photographs of tree canopy. We estimated AGB using five allometric equations. Our results demonstrated that the AGB given by the one tree species specific allometric equation does not show any significant differences from the values given by the non‐tree species specific allometric equations at tree and plot levels. The AGB of Intsia bijuga species, Koompassia malaccensis species and Shorea genera were comparatively higher, owing to their greater wood density, DBH and h. This has added importance because some of these species are categorized as threatened species. Our results demonstrated that mean AGB values in this forest (293.16 t ha^‐1) are the highest compared to some studies of other areas in Malaysia, tropical Africa and tropical Bazilian Amazonia, implying that the Royal Belum forest reserve, is an important carbon reservoir.