This paper presents the first complete approach to achieving environmental intelligence support in the management of vegetation within electrical power transmission corridors. Contrary to the related studies that focused on the mapping of power lines, together with encroaching vegetation risk assessment, we realised predictive analytics with vegetation growth simulation. This was achieved by following the JDL/DFIG data fusion model for complementary feature extraction from Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) derived data products and auxiliary thematic maps that feed an ensemble regression model. The results indicate that improved vegetation growth prediction accuracy is obtained by segmenting training samples according to their contextual similarities that relate to their ecological niches. Furthermore, efficient situation assessment was then performed using a rasterised parametrically defined funnel-shaped volumetric filter. In this way, m was measured when considering tree growth simulation, while a m error was estimated in encroaching vegetation detection, demonstrating significant improvements over the field observations.
In central Europe there are many backyard fruit growers who receive no proper education about fruit tree care. Their knowledge is mostly based on various handbooks and learning through trial and error. Such learning is slow and can even result in damage to the tree. To shorten the learning time, a new interactive teaching tool EduAPPLE has been developed based on the basic laws of apple tree ( Malus × domestica ) growth and training. Pruning, weighting, tying, and spreading can be interactively practiced over and over again without any danger to the actual trees. Training responses are immediately seen and are analogous to those of real trees. They are not only predetermined by a set of rules, but also calculated based on the changes the actions cause to the light interception of the tree. EduAPPLE enables high-quality views of trees and their light interception from all angles in real time and is designed for education regarding free-standing apple tree training (spindle). It can, therefore, be used in schools, universities, and other educational organizations, as well as by tree growers, including the large number of growers having only a few fruit trees.
Woody vegetation landscape features, such as hedges, tree patches, and riparian vegetation, are important elements of landscape and biotic diversity. For the reason that biodiversity loss is one of the major ecological problems in the EU, it is necessary to establish efficient workflows for the registration and monitoring of woody vegetation landscape features. In the paper, we propose and evaluate a methodology for automated detection of changes in woody vegetation landscape features from a digital orthophoto (DOP). We demonstrate its ability to capture most of the actual changes in the field and thereby provide valuable support for more efficient maintenance of landscape feature layers, which is important for the shaping of future environmental policies. While the most reliable source for vegetation cover mapping is a combination of LiDAR and high-resolution imagery, it can be prohibitively expensive for continuous updates. The DOP from cyclic aerial photography presents an alternative source of up-to-date information for tracking woody vegetation landscape features in-between LiDAR recordings. The proposed methodology uses a segmentation neural network, which is trained with the latest DOP against the last known ground truth as the target. The output is a layer of detected changes, which are validated by the user before being used to update the woody vegetation landscape feature layer. The methodology was tested using the data of a typical traditional Central European cultural landscape, Goričko, in north-eastern Slovenia. The achieved of per-pixel segmentation was 83.5% and 77.1% for two- and five-year differences between the LiDAR-based reference and the DOP, respectively. The validation of the proposed changes at a minimum area threshold of 100 m2 and a minimum area percentage threshold of 20% showed that the model achieved recall close to 90%.