Comparative testing of single-tree detection algorithms under different types of forest

Abstract

Airborne laser scanning data and corresponding field data were acquired from boreal forests in Norway and Sweden, coniferous and broadleaved forests in Germany and tropical pulpwood plantations in Brazil. Treetop positions were extracted using six different algorithms developed in Finland, Germany, Norway and Sweden, and the accuracy of tree detection and height estimation was assessed. Furthermore, the weaknesses and strengths of the methods under different types of forest were analyzed. The results showed that forest structure strongly affected the performance of all algorithms. Particularly, the success of tree detection was found to be dependent on tree density and clustering. The differences in performance between methods were more pronounced for tree detection than for height estimation. The algorithms showed a slightly better performance in the conditions for which they were developed, while some could be adapted by different parameterization according to training with local data. The results of this study may help guiding the choice of method under different forest types and may be of great value for future refinement of the single-tree detection algorithms.