Estimation of urban tree canopy cover using random point sampling and remote sensing methods

Published Date
1 December 2016, Vol.20:160–171, doi:10.1016/j.ufug.2016.08.011
Original article

Author 

• Ebadat G. Parmehr ^a,,
• Marco Amati ^a
• Elizabeth J. Taylor ^a
• Stephen J. Livesley ^b

• aCentre for Urban Research, School of Global, Urban and Social Studies RMIT University, Australia
• bSchool of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences, Faculty of Science, Burnley Campus, The University of Melbourne, Australia

Received 23 April 2016. Revised 23 August 2016. Accepted 26 August 2016. Available online 6 September 2016. 

Abstract

Trees play an important role in urban areas by improving air quality, mitigating urban heat islands, reducing stormwater runoff and providing biodiversity habitat. Accurate and up-to-date estimation of urban tree canopy cover (UTC) is a basic need for the management of green spaces in cities, providing a metric from which variation can be understood, change monitored and areas prioritised. Random point sampling methods, such as i-Tree canopy, provide a cheap and quick estimation of UTC for a large area. Remote sensing methods using airborne Light Detection And Ranging (LiDAR) and multi-spectral images produce accurate UTC maps, although greater processing time and technical skills are required. In this paper, random point sampling and remote sensing methods are used to estimate UTC in Williamstown, a suburb of Melbourne, Australia. High resolution multi-spectral satellite images fused with LiDAR data with pixel-level accuracy are employed to produce the UTC map. The UTC is also estimated by categorising random points (a) automatically using the LiDAR derived UTC map and (b) manually using Google Maps and i-Tree canopy software. There was a minimum 1% difference between UTC estimated from the map derived from remotely sensed data and only 1000 random points automatically categorised by that same map, indicating the level of error associated with a random sampling approach. The difference between UTC estimated by remote sensing and manually categorised random point sampling varied in range of 4.5% using a confidence level of 95%. As monitoring of urban forest canopy becomes an increasing priority, the uncertainties associated with different UTC estimates should be considered when tracking change or comparing different areas using different methods.

Keywords

i-Tree canopy

LiDAR

Multi-spectral image

Urban forest

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  Corresponding author at: Level 4, Building 15, RMIT City Campus, 124 La Trobe Street, Melbourne, VIC 3000, Australia.

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