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Main Authors: Russell, David, Weinstein, Ben, Wettergreen, David, Young, Derek
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2405.09544
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author Russell, David
Weinstein, Ben
Wettergreen, David
Young, Derek
author_facet Russell, David
Weinstein, Ben
Wettergreen, David
Young, Derek
contents Aerial imagery is increasingly used in Earth science and natural resource management as a complement to labor-intensive ground-based surveys. Aerial systems can collect overlapping images that provide multiple views of each location from different perspectives. However, most prediction approaches (e.g. for tree species classification) use a single, synthesized top-down "orthomosaic" image as input that contains little to no information about the vertical aspects of objects and may include processing artifacts. We propose an alternate approach that generates predictions directly on the raw images and accurately maps these predictions into geospatial coordinates using semantic meshes. This method$\unicode{x2013}$released as a user-friendly open-source toolkit$\unicode{x2013}$enables analysts to use the highest quality data for predictions, capture information about the sides of objects, and leverage multiple viewpoints of each location for added robustness. We demonstrate the value of this approach on a new benchmark dataset of four forest sites in the western U.S. that consists of drone images, photogrammetry results, predicted tree locations, and species classification data derived from manual surveys. We show that our proposed multiview method improves classification accuracy from 53% to 75% relative to an orthomosaic baseline on a challenging cross-site tree species classification task.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2405_09544
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Classifying geospatial objects from multiview aerial imagery using semantic meshes
Russell, David
Weinstein, Ben
Wettergreen, David
Young, Derek
Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition
Aerial imagery is increasingly used in Earth science and natural resource management as a complement to labor-intensive ground-based surveys. Aerial systems can collect overlapping images that provide multiple views of each location from different perspectives. However, most prediction approaches (e.g. for tree species classification) use a single, synthesized top-down "orthomosaic" image as input that contains little to no information about the vertical aspects of objects and may include processing artifacts. We propose an alternate approach that generates predictions directly on the raw images and accurately maps these predictions into geospatial coordinates using semantic meshes. This method$\unicode{x2013}$released as a user-friendly open-source toolkit$\unicode{x2013}$enables analysts to use the highest quality data for predictions, capture information about the sides of objects, and leverage multiple viewpoints of each location for added robustness. We demonstrate the value of this approach on a new benchmark dataset of four forest sites in the western U.S. that consists of drone images, photogrammetry results, predicted tree locations, and species classification data derived from manual surveys. We show that our proposed multiview method improves classification accuracy from 53% to 75% relative to an orthomosaic baseline on a challenging cross-site tree species classification task.
title Classifying geospatial objects from multiview aerial imagery using semantic meshes
topic Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2405.09544