This project is a step in a quest to build a system that can monitor and catalog urban forests. What I am focusing on is the integration of LiDar and ground level images. LiDar in its most basic sense is a remote sensing technique where lasers are shot from a plane. These lasers then build a surface model of the ground. The lasers are detailed enough to shoot through trees and build a rough model of the tree’s canopy. I am will use the RePhoto app to collet the images of trees. Specially I am building a method to collect the images and basic data about the trees within the app. Ultimately this will result in a paper discussing the issues and ideas we encounter along the way.

To do this project I will be using the rePhoto app on my phone in conjunction with Google Survey tools and ESRI ArcGIS tools. There will be a few stages this project will go through. The first phase of this project will be a pilot study into the user end of the app and data collection. The goal of this will be to build a protocol on how to collect the data. The second phase of this project will be the data collection part. I will, with the help of a group of students, start collecting images of trees and base level data for trees on campus. After that we will reevaluate the protocol and see how we can start intergrading the LiDar data and ground level images. As well as reevaluate the protocol and make changes if necessary.

On the final day of this semester I should have a paper with all our our results on using the app, how citizen science groups can use this to help different agencies, and how effective the images are in the integration of ground level images and LiDar data.

With this project I am very excited to start exploring the field of Urban Forestry. With implementing this project on my schools campus I am getting to see the geography side, higher education administration side, and the photography side. Which are all fields I’m interested in pursuing in the future.