Identifying Roads and Trains Under Canopy Using Lidar

Abstract

LIDAR data collected from four geographic regions are studied to determine the feasibility of reliably identifying roads and trails hidden under dense jungle and forest canopies. The four analyzed regions include the Elkhorn Slough in Central California (2005), Kahuku Training Area on the North side of Oahu Island in Hawaii (2005), La Selva Biological Station near Puerto Viejo de Sarapiqui, Costa Rica (1997), and Cougar Mountain Park in Bellevue, Washington (2001). Using the commercial product, Quick Terrain Modeler, 3-D interactive analysis was done to identify roads and trails hidden under canopy. Results are compared to overhead panchromatic imagery and verified by significant ground truth. Trails with widths of 2.5 meters and narrower were found with overall accuracies up to 85%.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Sep 01, 2007
Accession Number
ADA473954

Entities

People

  • Fermin Espinoza
  • Robb E. Owens

Organizations

  • Naval Postgraduate School

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Cyber
  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Materials and Manufacturing Processes
  • Sensors
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Aircrafts
  • California
  • Costa Rica
  • Detection
  • Detectors
  • Field Equipment
  • Fixed Wing Aircraft
  • Geographic Information Systems
  • Geographic Regions
  • Global Positioning Systems
  • Inertial Navigation
  • Inertial Navigation Systems
  • Radar
  • Statistical Analysis
  • Three Dimensional
  • United States
  • Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

Readers

  • Computer Vision.
  • Urban Planning and Geography.
  • Wetland-Land-Environmental Management.