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William Leybourn (1626 – 1716) was a printer, author, teacher, surveyor, and mathematician. The occupation of “printer” is often associated with passivity: a simple artisan whose sole focus is to bring books to sale and therefore a stranger to the knowledge contained within the books. This paper seeks to revisit this view, showing that William Leybourn was the exact opposite of a passive printer. He introduced to the English public the works of crucial protagonists of the European scientific community (including the works of Galileo Galilei), promoted debates among scholars and natural philosophers, and presented complex topics previously reserved for academic disputations in a manner accessible to a more general audience. Employing both traditional historical research and tools in Digital Humanities, the paper discusses Leybourn’s works as an example of a conceptually and methodologically novel approach to the study of intellectual networks. This bottom-up approach recenters traditionally peripheral figures, such as Leybourn, and reveals crucial social, economic, and political aspects of early modern European cultural and intellectual debates.

Remote survey is becoming increasingly common for the mining industry, so studying the choice of a UAV device is a very relevant issue, which will help increase the productivity of the survey service. The aim of the study is to study UAV species, compare species, and choose the optimal one based on the results of the study. Considering the above-mentioned, there is a question of choosing the type of UAV to conduct surveys in the mining industry. To date, there is no clear comparison and description of the predominant types of UAVs for surveying. The choice of a certain type of UAV for surveying raises a number of questions related to the type of work performed, weather conditions, and the terrain of the survey. The main research methods are literature analysis, factor analysis method, analysis of UAV types for performing survey using UAVs. The above helped to justify the best devices for conducting surveying. The work carried out made it possible to determine the optimal UAV device for carrying out these works.

Contextualization: The incorporation of new techniques and technologies to learn about the composition and characteristics of soils used in agricultural production is booming. Free license products such as Sentinel-2 satellite images allow the correlation of soil properties with spectral indices. Knowledge gap: In the agricultural sector, indices calculated from satellite images have focused on vegetation characterization. To a lesser extent, studies have been conducted to evaluate the correlation of those applied to mineralogical prospecting to correlate them with the chemical characteristics of the soil. Purpose: This study was developed with to evaluate the correlation of the indexes of ferric oxides (B11/B8), iron silicates (B12/B11), ferrous iron (B12/8 + B3/4), and alteration (B11/B12), with the content of chemical elements of importance in crop production. Methodology: A crop of 282 hectares was selected in the municipality of Puerto López in the Meta department. Using a Sentinel-2 image, the evaluated indices were calculated. After obtaining the indices, 40 sites were selected for a composite sampling of soils to determine the following characteristics: pH in water (1:1 potentiometric), organic matter (Walkey and Black), P (Bray II), Al (KCl 1N), Ca, Mg, K, and Na (Ammonium Acetate), Fe (DTPA). With the information obtained, a multiple regression analysis was carried out using the “Stepwise” method. The raster layers with the calculated indices were used as independent variables, and the values of the properties determined in the laboratory were used as the variables to predict. Results and conclusions: The evaluated indexes showed a correlation greater than 0.60 with Mg and Ca content. A correlation between 0.40 and 0.60 was found between the indices and organic carbon and Fe content. The calculated regression models revealed fits of 0.54, 0.47, and 0.33 to Mg, Ca, and Fe, respectively. The findings of this research lead to the conclusion that it is possible from Sentinel-2 images to estimate the concentration of elements available to plants in the edaphoclimatic conditions of the Colombian Altillanura. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the field of coastal geomorphology, advancements in space technology have revolutionized coastal mapping and understanding. Satellite‐derived bathymetry (SDB) research has progressed, focusing on various estimation methods using high‐resolution satellite imagery and in‐situ data. Challenges arise when applying these methods to the Indian coastline due to its turbid waters and intricate features such as creeks and deltas, laden with sediment and submerged rocks. A study aims to assess multivariate machine learning (ML) regression techniques for estimating bathymetric data. The study employs ground‐truth data and imagery from Aster, Landsat‐8, and Sentinel‐2 at distinct sites known for complex underwater landscapes. Several algorithms including Multiple Linear Regression, Support Vector Regressor, Gaussian Process Regression (GPR), Decision Tree Regression, K‐Neighbors Regressor, k‐fold cross‐validation with Decision Tree Regression, and Random Forest (RF) are evaluated for SDB. Results from the Vengurla Site show that using the Landsat‐8 data set with the GPR algorithm achieves R2 0.94, root mean squared error (RMSE) 1.53 m, and MAE 1.14 m, utilizing visible spectrum bands. At Mormugao, the Sentinel‐2 data set with GPR and RF algorithms attains R2 0.97 and RMSE 1.23 m, with GPR outperforming RF, having an MAE of 1.05 m compared to RF's 1.22 m. This study underscores the potential of ML regression techniques in overcoming challenges with using SDB for mapping coastal geomorphology, particularly in intricate underwater terrains and turbid waters by assimilating sophisticated algorithms and their refined cartographic representation. Plain Language Summary: Researchers are leveraging advancements in space technology to enhance the mapping and comprehension of coastal regions, particularly focusing on satellite‐derived bathymetry (SDB). SDB utilizes high‐resolution satellite imagery in conjunction with on‐site data to estimate the submerged terrain. However, the application of these methodologies along the Indian coastline poses challenges due to factors such as turbidity and the presence of complex geological formations like creeks and deltas. This study explored the utilization of multivariate machine learning (ML) regression techniques to improve the estimation of SDB. Various algorithms were tested using data sourced from satellites such as Aster, Landsat‐8, and Sentinel‐2 across two different sites with diverse underwater landscapes. Results demonstrate promising accuracy, particularly when employing Landsat‐8 data in conjunction with Gaussian Process Regression (GPR), yielding an R2 value of 0.94. Similarly, at another site, the combination of SENTINEL‐2 data with GPR and RF achieved an R2 value of 0.97, underscoring the potential of ML techniques in mapping intricate coastal terrains despite challenges like turbid waters. Key Points: Advancements in space technology for coastal bathymetry mappingPredicting coastal geomorphology with satellite‐derived bathymetry (SDB)Multivariate machine learning regression for estimating SDB [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The importance of governance arrangements for access, use and control of land and resources is being increasingly recognized by international institutions. This paper overviews land governance initiatives being promoted by UN Habitat, and the growing importance of rapidly developing geospatial technologies. The paper next addresses land governance issues in the MENA region, particularly the Arab Land Governance initiative, and presents a brief case study of Oman's land governance, and its effects upon society, urban settlement patterns, and land markets. Issues of education and training for better land governance are discussed. Recommendations and conclusions address the issues and ways forward for the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Supervised deep learning algorithms have recently achieved state-of-the-art performance in the classification, segmentation and analysis of 3D LiDAR point cloud data in a wide-range of applications and environments. One of the main downsides of deep learning-based approaches is the need for extensive training datasets, i.e. LiDAR point clouds that have been annotated for target tasks by human experts. One strategy for addressing this issue is the use of simulated/synthetic data (with automatically generated annotations) for training models which can then be deployed on real target data/environments. This paper explores using synthetic data of realistic forest trees to train deep learning models for tree part segmentation from real forest LiDAR data. We develop a new pipeline for generating high-fidelity simulated LiDAR scans of synthetic forest trees and combine this with an unsupervised domain adaptation strategy to adapt models trained on synthetic data to LiDAR data captured in real forest environments.Models were trained for semantic segmentation of tree parts using a PointNet++ architecture and evaluated across a range of medium to high-resolution laser scanning datasets collected across both ground-based and aerial platforms in multiple forest environments. Results of our work indicated that models trained on our synthetic data pipeline were competitive with models trained on real data, in particular when real data came from non-target sites, and our unsupervised domain adaptation method further improved performance. Our approach has implications for reducing the burden required in manual human expert annotation of large LiDAR datasets required to achieve high-performance from deep learning methods for forest analysis. The use of synthetically-trained models shown here provides a potential way to reduce the barriers to the use of deep learning in large-scale forest analysis, with implications to applications ranging from forest inventories to scaling-up in-situ forest phenotyping.

Leveraging ground-annotated data for scene analysis on unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) can lead to valuable real-world applications. However, existing unsupervised domain adaptive (UDA) methods primarily focus on domain confusion, which raises conflicts among training data if there is a huge domain shift caused by variations in observation perspectives or locations. To illustrate this problem, we present a ground-to-UAV fire segmentation method as a novel benchmark to verify typical UDA methods, and propose an effective framework, Colour-Mix, to boost the performance of the segmentation method equivalent to the fully supervised level. First, we identify domain-invariant fire features by deriving fire-discriminating components (u*VS) defined in colour spaces Lu*v*, YUV, and HSV. Notably, we devise criteria to combine components that are beneficial for integrating colour signals into deep-learning training, thus significantly improving the generalisation abilities of the framework without resorting to UDA techniques. Second, we perform class-specific mixing to eliminate irrelevant background content on the ground scenario and enrich annotated fire samples for the UAV imagery. Third, we propose to disentangle the feature encoding for different domains and use class-specific mixing as robust training signals for the target domain. The framework is validated on the drone-captured dataset, Flame, by using the combined ground-level source datasets, Street Fire and Corsica Wildfires. The code is available at https://github.com/Rui-Zhou-2/Colour-Mix.

Flooding, exacerbated by climate change, poses a significant threat to certain areas, increasing in frequency and severity. In response, the construction of supplementary dams has emerged as a reliable solution for flood management. This study employs a geospatial approach to assess the feasibility of constructing a supplementary dam near Linville, Brisbane, Australia, with the aim of mitigating floods and preventing overtopping failure at Wivenhoe Dam. Using QGIS software and a 25 m resolution DEM from the Queensland Spatial Catalogue 'QSpatial' website, four potential dam sites were analysed, considering cross-sections, watershed characteristics, and water volume calculations. Systematic selection criteria were applied on several dam wall options to identify the cost-effective and optimal one based on the dam wall dimensions, volume-to-area, and volume-to-cost ratios. The selected option was further assessed against predefined criteria yielding the optimal choice. The study provides insights into the feasibility and effectiveness of supplementary dam construction for flood mitigation in the region, with recommendations for future research and implementation plans for the asset owners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurate and precise measures of channel morphology are important when monitoring a stream post-restoration to determine changes in stability, water quality, and aquatic habitat availability. Practitioners often rely on traditional surveying methods such as a total station for measuring channel metrics (e.g., cross-sectional area, width, depth, and slope). However, these methods have limitations in terms of coarse sampling densities and time-intensive field efforts. Drone-based lidar or drone laser scanning (DLS) provides much higher resolution point clouds and has the potential to improve post-restoration monitoring efforts. For this study, a 1.3-km reach of Stroubles Creek (Blacksburg, VA, USA), which underwent a restoration in 2010, was surveyed twice with a total station (2010 and 2021) and twice with DLS (2017 and 2021). The initial restoration was divided into three treatment reaches: T1 (livestock exclusion), T2 (livestock exclusion and bank treatment), and T3 (livestock exclusion, bank treatment, and inset floodplain). Cross-sectional channel morphology metrics were extracted from the 2021 DLS scan and compared to metrics calculated from the 2021 total station survey. DLS produced 6.5 times the number of cross sections over the study reach and 8.8 times the number of points per cross section compared to the total station. There was good agreement between the metrics derived from both surveying methods, such as channel width (R2 = 0.672) and cross-sectional area (R2 = 0.597). As a proof of concept to demonstrate the advantage of DLS over traditional surveying, 0.1 m digital terrain models (DTMs) were generated from the DLS data. Based on the drone lidar data, from 2017 to 2021, treatment reach T3 showed the most stability, in terms of the least change and variability in cross-sectional metrics as well as the least erosion area and volume per length of reach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several industrial and commercial bulk material management applications rely on accurate, current stockpile volume estimation. Proximal imaging and LiDAR sensing modalities can be used to derive stockpile volume estimates in outdoor and indoor storage facilities. Among available imaging and LiDAR sensing modalities, the latter is more advantageous for indoor storage facilities due to its ability to capture scans under poor lighting conditions. Evaluating volumes from such sensing modalities requires the pose (i.e., position and orientation) parameters of the used sensors relative to a common reference frame. For outdoor facilities, a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) combined with an Inertial Navigation System (INS) can be used to derive the sensors’ pose relative to a global reference frame. For indoor facilities, GNSS signal outages will not allow for such capability. Prior research has developed strategies for establishing the sensor position and orientation for stockpile volume estimation while relying on multi-beam spinning LiDAR units. These approaches are feasible due to the large range and Field of View (FOV) of such systems that can capture the internal surfaces of indoor storage facilities.The mechanical movement of multi-beam spinning LiDAR units together with the harsh conditions within indoor facilities (e.g., excessive humidity, wide range of temperature variation, dust, and corrosive environment in deicing salt storage facilities) limit the use of such systems. With the increasing availability of solid-state LiDAR units, there is an interest in exploring their potential for stockpile volume estimation. Despite their higher robustness to harsh conditions, solid-state LiDAR units have shorter distance measurement range and limited FOV when compared with multi-beam spinning LiDAR. This research presents a strategy for the extrinsic calibration (i.e., estimating the relative pose parameters) of installed solid-state LiDAR units inside stockpile storage facilities. The extrinsic calibration is made possible using deployed spherical targets and a complete, reference scan of the facility from another LiDAR sensing modality. The proposed research introduces strategies for: 1) automated extraction of the spherical targets; 2) automated matching of these targets in the solid-state LiDAR and reference scans using invariant relationships among them; and 3) coarse-to-fine estimation of the calibration parameters. Experimental results in several facilities have shown the feasibility of using the proposed methodology to conduct the extrinsic calibration and volume evaluation with an error percentage less than 3.5% even with occlusion percentages reaching up to 50%.

Terrestrial Radar Interferometry (TRI) is widely adopted in geomonitoring applications due to its capability to precisely observe surface displacements along the line of sight, among other key characteristics. As its deployment grows, TRI is also increasingly used to monitor smaller and more dispersed geological phenomena, where the challenge is their precise localization in 3d space if the pose of the radar interferometer is not known beforehand. To tackle this challenge, we introduce a semi-automatic target-based georeferencing method for precisely aligning TRI data with 3d point clouds obtained using long-range Terrestrial Laser Scanning (TLS). To facilitate this, we developed a multi-modal corner reflector (mmCR) that serves as a common reference point recognizable by both technologies, and we accompanied it with a semi-automatic data-processing pipeline, including the algorithms for precise center estimation. Experimental validation demonstrated that the corner reflector can be localized within the TLS data with a precision of 3–5 cm and within the TRI data with 1–2 dm. The targets were deployed in a realistic geomonitoring scenario to evaluate the implemented workflow and the achievable quality of georeferencing. The post-georeferencing mapping uncertainty was found to be on a decimeter level, matching the state-of-the-art results using dedicated targets and achieving more than an order of magnitude lower uncertainty than the existing data-driven approaches. In contrast to the existing target-based approaches, our results were achieved without laborious visual data inspection and manual target detection and on significantly larger distances, surpassing 2 km. The use of the developed mmCR and its associated data-processing pipeline extends beyond precise georeferencing of TRI imagery to TLS point clouds, allowing for alternatively georeferencing using total stations, mapping quality evaluation as well as on-site testing and calibrating TRI systems within the application environment.

The progressing industrialization of oceans mandates reliable, accurate and automatable subsea survey methods. Close-range photogrammetry is a promising discipline, which is frequently applied by archaeologists, fish-farmers, and the offshore energy industry. This paper presents a robust approach for the reliable detection and identification of photogrammetric markers in subsea images. The proposed method is robust to severe image degradation, which is frequently observed in underwater images due to turbidity, light absorption, and optical aberrations. This is the first step towards a highly automated work-flow for single-camera underwater photogrammetry. The newly developed approach comprises several machine learning models, which are trained by 10,122 real-world subsea images, showing a total of 338,301 photogrammetric markers. The performance is evaluated using an object detection metrics, and through a comparison with the commercially available software Metashape by Agisoft. Metashape delivers satisfactory results when the image quality is good. In images with strong noise, haze or little light, only the novel approach retrieves sufficient information for a high degree of automation of the subsequent bundle adjustment. While the need for offshore personnel and the time-to-results decreases, the robustness of the survey increases.

Forest diebacks pose a major threat to global ecosystems. Identifying and mapping both living and dead trees is crucial for understanding the causes and implementing effective management strategies. This study explores the efficacy of Mask R–CNN for automated forest dieback monitoring. The method detects individual trees, delineates their crowns, and classifies them as alive or dead. We evaluated the approach using aerial imagery and canopy height models in the Harz Mountains, Germany, a region severely affected by forest dieback. To assess the model's ability to track changes over time, we applied it to images from three separate flight campaigns (2009, 2016, and 2022). This evaluation considered variations in acquisition dates, cameras, post-processing techniques, and image tilting. Forest changes were analyzed based on the detected trees' number, spatial distribution, and height. A comprehensive accuracy assessment demonstrated the Mask R–CNN's robust performance, with precision scores ranging from 0.80 to 0.88 and F1-scores from 0.88 to 0.91. These results confirm the model's ability to generalize across diverse image acquisition conditions. While minor changes were observed between 2009 and 2016, the period between 2016 and 2022 witnessed substantial dieback, with a 64.57% loss of living trees. Notably, taller trees appeared to be particularly affected. This study highlights Mask R–CNN's potential as a valuable tool for automated forest dieback monitoring. It enables efficient detection, delineation, and classification of both living and dead trees, providing crucial data for informed forest management practices.

3D reconstruction is a long-standing research topic in the photogrammetric and computer vision communities; although a plethora of open-source and commercial solutions for 3D reconstruction have been released in the last few years, several open challenges and limitations still exist. Undoubtedly, deep learning algorithms have demonstrated great potential in several remote sensing tasks, including image-based 3D reconstruction. State-of-the-art monocular and stereo algorithms leverage deep learning techniques and achieve increased performance in depth estimation and 3D reconstruction. However, one of the limitations of such methods is that they highly rely on large training sets that are often tedious to obtain; even when available, they typically refer to indoor, close-range scenarios and low-resolution images. Especially while considering UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) scenarios, such data are not available and domain adaptation is not a trivial challenge. To fill this gap, the UAV-based multi-sensor dataset for geospatial research (UseGeo - https://usegeo.fbk.eu/home) is introduced in this paper. It contains both image and LiDAR data and aims to support relevant research in photogrammetry and computer vision with a useful training set for both stereo and monocular 3D reconstruction algorithms. In this regard, the dataset provides ground truth data for both point clouds and depth maps. In addition, UseGeo can be also a valuable dataset for other tasks such as feature extraction and matching, aerial triangulation, or image and LiDAR co-registration. The paper introduces the UseGeo dataset and validates some state-of-the-art algorithms to assess their usability for both monocular and multi-view 3D reconstruction.

Real-time object detection and tracking is an active area of aerial remote sensing research that enables many environmental and ecological monitoring and preservation applications. Despite the development of several solutions tailored for these specific applications, trade-offs between cost efficiency and feature richness persist. This paper proposes a lightweight, low-cost, and modular approach to real-time object detection and instance tracking, enabling a wide gamut of use cases. By integrating real-time object detection models with affordable embedded hardware, we present a system that uses image metadata to perform geolocation on detected objects, enabling real-time applications due to minimal computational overhead. This algorithm generates cleaner ’areas of interest’ based on geolocated detections filtered by a clustering algorithm to remove false positives. In our findings, this proved a viable solution with real-time processing speeds and GPS positioning accuracy within a meter. While there is room for improvement, our proposed pipeline represents a significant step forward in lowering the costs involved with applying computer vision to conservation applications.

Depth estimation and 3D model reconstruction from aerial imagery is an important task in photogrammetry, remote sensing, and computer vision. To compare the performance of different image-based approaches, this study presents a benchmark for UAV-based aerial imagery using the UseGeo dataset. The contributions include the release of various evaluation routines on GitHub, as well as a comprehensive comparison of baseline approaches, such as methods for offline multi-view 3D reconstruction resulting in point clouds and triangle meshes, online multi-view depth estimation, as well as single-image depth estimation using self-supervised deep learning. With the release of our evaluation routines, we aim to provide a universal protocol for the evaluation of depth estimation and 3D reconstruction methods on the UseGeo dataset. The conducted experiments and analyses show that each method excels in a different category: the depth estimation from COLMAP outperforms that of the other approaches, ACMMP achieves the lowest error and highest completeness for point clouds, while OpenMVS produces triangle meshes with the lowest error. Among the online methods for depth estimation, the approach from the Plane-Sweep Library outperforms the FaSS-MVS approach, while the latter achieves the lowest processing time. And even though the particularly challenging nature of the dataset and the small amount of training data leads to a significantly higher error in the results of the self-supervised single-image depth estimation approach, it outperforms all other approaches in terms of processing time and frame rate. In our evaluation, we have also considered modern learning-based approaches that can be used for image-based 3D reconstruction, such as NeRFs. However, due to the significantly lower quality of the resulting 3D models, we have only included a qualitative comparison between NeRF-based and conventional approaches in the scope of this work.

Abstract In the field of coastal geomorphology, advancements in space technology have revolutionized coastal mapping and understanding. Satellite‐derived bathymetry (SDB) research has progressed, focusing on various estimation methods using high‐resolution satellite imagery and in‐situ data. Challenges arise when applying these methods to the Indian coastline due to its turbid waters and intricate features such as creeks and deltas, laden with sediment and submerged rocks. A study aims to assess multivariate machine learning (ML) regression techniques for estimating bathymetric data. The study employs ground‐truth data and imagery from Aster, Landsat‐8, and Sentinel‐2 at distinct sites known for complex underwater landscapes. Several algorithms including Multiple Linear Regression, Support Vector Regressor, Gaussian Process Regression (GPR), Decision Tree Regression, K‐Neighbors Regressor, k‐fold cross‐validation with Decision Tree Regression, and Random Forest (RF) are evaluated for SDB. Results from the Vengurla Site show that using the Landsat‐8 data set with the GPR algorithm achieves R2 0.94, root mean squared error (RMSE) 1.53 m, and MAE 1.14 m, utilizing visible spectrum bands. At Mormugao, the Sentinel‐2 data set with GPR and RF algorithms attains R2 0.97 and RMSE 1.23 m, with GPR outperforming RF, having an MAE of 1.05 m compared to RF's 1.22 m. This study underscores the potential of ML regression techniques in overcoming challenges with using SDB for mapping coastal geomorphology, particularly in intricate underwater terrains and turbid waters by assimilating sophisticated algorithms and their refined cartographic representation.

Predicting crop yield using deep learning (DL) and remote sensing is a promising technique in agriculture. In smallholder agriculture (

Various methods have been developed to assign pollen to its botanical origin. They range from technically complex approaches to the less precise but sophisticated chromatic assessment, in which the pollen colors are used for identification. However, a common challenge lies in the similarity of colors of pollen from different plant species. The advent of camera-based bee monitoring systems has sparked renewed interest in classifying pollen based on color and offers potential advances for honey bee biomonitoring. Despite the promise of improved sensor accuracy, a critical examination of whether color diversity within a single species may be the primary limiting factor has been lacking. Our comprehensive analysis, which includes over 85,000 corbicular pollen from 30 major pollen species, shows that the average color variation within each species is distinguishable to a human observer, similar to the difference between two dissimilar colors. From today's perspective, the considerable color variation within a single pollen source makes the use of color alone to classify pollen impractical. When picking a single pollen color from the entire dataset, we report a correct pollen type classification rate of 67 %. The accuracy was highly dependent on the type and ranged from 0 % for rare types with common colors to 99 % for distinct colors. The large color dispersion within species highlights the need for complementary methods to improve the accuracy and reliability of color-based pollen identification in biomonitoring applications.

In recent years, there has been a growing emphasis on assessing and ensuring the quality of horticultural and agricultural produce. Traditional methods involving field measurements, investigations, and statistical analyses are labour-intensive, time-consuming, and costly. As a solution, Hyperspectral Imaging (HSI) has emerged as a non-destructive and environmentally friendly technology. HSI has gained significant popularity as a new technology, particularly for its promising applications in remote sensing, notably in agriculture. However, classifying HSI data is highly complex because it involves several challenges, such as the excessive redundancy of spectral bands, scarcity of training samples, and the intricate non-linear relationship between spatial positions and spectral bands. Notably, Deep Learning (DL) techniques have demonstrated remarkable efficacy in various HSI analysis tasks, including those within agriculture. As interest continues to surge in leveraging HSI data for agricultural applications through DL approaches, a pressing need exists for a comprehensive survey that can effectively navigate researchers through the significant strides achieved and the future promising research directions in this domain. This literature review diligently compiles, analyzes, and discusses recent endeavours employing DL methodologies. These methodologies encompass a spectrum of approaches, ranging from Autoencoders (AE) to Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN) (in 1D, 2D, and 3D configurations), Recurrent Neural Networks (RNN), Deep Belief Networks (DBN), Generative Adversarial Networks (GAN), Transfer Learning (TL), Semi-Supervised Learning (SSL), Few-Shot Learning (FSL) and Active Learning (AL). These approaches are tailored to address the unique challenges posed by agricultural HSI analysis. This review evaluates and discusses the performance exhibited by these diverse approaches. To this end, the efficiency of these approaches has been rigorously analyzed and discussed based on the results of the state-of-the-art papers on widely recognized land cover datasets. Github repository.

Real-time semantic segmentation of point clouds has increasing importance in applications related to 3D city modelling and mapping, automated inventory of forests, autonomous driving and mobile robotics. Current state-of-the-art point cloud semantic segmentation methods rely heavily on the availability of 3D laser scanning data. This is problematic in regards of low-latency, real-time applications that use data from high-precision mobile laser scanners, as those are typically 2D line scanning devices. In this study, we experiment with real-time semantic segmentation of high-density multispectral point clouds collected from 2D line scanners in urban environments using encoder - decoder convolutional neural network architectures. We introduce a rasterized multi-scan input format that can be constructed exclusively from the raw (non-georeferenced profiles) 2D laser scanner measurement stream without odometry information. In addition, we investigate the impact of multispectral data on the segmentation accuracy. The dataset used for training, validation and testing was collected with multispectral FGI AkhkaR4-DW backpack laser scanning system operating at the wavelengths of 905 nm and 1550 nm, and consists in total of 228 million points (39 583 scans). The data was divided into 13 classes that represent various targets in urban environments. The results show that the increased spatial context of the multi-scan format improves the segmentation performance on the single-wavelength lidar dataset from 45.4 mIoU (a single scan) to 62.1 mIoU (24 consecutive scans). In the multispectral point cloud experiments we achieved a 71 % and 28 % relative increase in the segmentation mIoU (43.5 mIoU) as compared to the purely single-wavelength reference experiments, in which we achieved 25.4 mIoU (905 nm) and 34.1 mIoU (1550 nm). Our findings show that it is possible to semantically segment 2D line scanner data with good results by combining consecutive scans without the need for odometry information. The results also serve as motivation for developing multispectral mobile laser scanning systems that can be used in challenging urban surveys.

CNES is currently carrying out a Phase A study to assess the feasibility of a future hyperspectral imaging sensor (10 m spatial resolution) combined with a panchromatic camera (2.5 m spatial resolution). This mission focuses on both high spatial and spectral resolution requirements, as inherited from previous French studies such as HYPEX, HYPXIM, and BIODIVERSITY. To meet user requirements, cost, and instrument compactness constraints, CNES asked the French hyperspectral Mission Advisory Group (MAG), representing a broad French scientific community, to provide recommendations on spectral sampling, particularly in the Short Wave InfraRed (SWIR) for various applications.This paper presents the tests carried out with the aim of defining the optimal spectral sampling and spectral resolution in the SWIR domain for quantitative estimation of physical variables and classification purposes. The targeted applications are geosciences (mineralogy, soil moisture content), forestry (tree species classification, leaf functional traits), coastal and inland waters (bathymetry, water column, bottom classification in shallow water, coastal habitat classification), urban areas (land cover), industrial plumes (aerosols, methane and carbon dioxide), cryosphere (specific surface area, equivalent black carbon concentration), and atmosphere (water vapor, carbon dioxide and aerosols). All the products simulated in this exercise used the same CNES end-to-end processing chain, with realistic instrument parameters, enabling easy comparison between applications. 648 simulations were carried out with different spectral strategies, radiometric calibration performances and signal-to-noise Ratios (SNR): 24 instrument configurations × 25 datasets (22 images + 3 spectral libraries).The results show that spectral sampling up to 20 nm in the SWIR range is sufficient for most applications. However, 10 nm spectral sampling is recommended for applications based on specific absorption bands such as mineralogy, industrial plumes or atmospheric gases. In addition, a slight performance loss is generally observed when radiometric calibration accuracy decreases, with a few exceptions in bathymetry and in the cryosphere for which the observed performance is severely degraded. Finally, most applications can be achieved with a realistic SNR, with the exception of bathymetry, shallow water classification, as well as carbon dioxide and methane estimation, which require the optimistic SNR level tested. On the basis of these results, CNES is currently evaluating the best compromise for designing the future hyperspectral sensor to meet the objectives of priority applications.

Tightly-coupled sensor orientation, i.e. the simultaneous processing of temporal (GNSS and raw inertial) and spatial (image and lidar) constraints in a common adjustment, has demonstrated significant improvement in the quality of attitude determination with small inertial sensors. This is particularly beneficial in kinematic laser scanning on lightweight aerial platforms, such as drones, which employ direct sensor orientation for the spatial interpretation of laser vectors. In this study, previously reported preliminary results are extended to assess the gain in accuracy of sensor orientation through leveraging all available spatio-temporal constraints in a dynamic network i) with a commercial IMU for drones and ii) with simultaneous processing of raw-observations of several low-quality IMUs. Additionally, we evaluate the influence of different types of spatial constraints (image 2D and point-cloud 3D tie-points) and flight geometries (with and without a cross flight line). We present the newly implemented estimation of confidence levels and compare those with the observed residual errors. The empirical evidence demonstrates that the use of spatial constraints increases the attitude accuracy of the derived trajectory by a factor of 2–3, both for the commercial and low-quality IMUs, while at the same time reducing the dispersion of geo-referencing errors, resulting in a considerably more precise and self-coherent geo-referenced point-cloud. We further demonstrate that the use of image constraints (additionally to lidar constraints) stabilizes the in-flight lidar boresight estimation by a factor of 3–10, establishing the feasibility of such estimation even in the absence of special calibration patterns or calibration targets.

Scalable and transferable methods for generating reliable reference data for automated remote sensing approaches are crucial, especially for mapping complex Earth surface processes such as gully erosion in low-populated and inaccessible areas. As an alternative for the labour-intense in-situ authoritative mapping, collaborative approaches enable volunteers to generate redundant independent geoinformation by digitising Earth observation imagery. We face the challenge of mapping the complex gully outlines integrating multi-user contributions of the same gully network. Comparing Sentinel 2, Bing Aerial, and unoccupied aerial vehicle orthophoto base maps, we examine the volunteered geographic information process and multi-contribution integration using Kalman filtering and machine learning to segment a gully border in a remote area in northwestern Namibia. The Kalman filtering integrates the different lines finding a smoothed solution, and a Random Forest model is used to identify mapping conditions and terrain features as key predictors for evaluating contributors' digitising quality. Assessing results with expert-based reference data, we identify ten contributions as optimal, yielding root mean square distance values of 19.1 m, 15.9 m and 16.6 m, and variability of 2.0 m, 4.2 m and 3.8 m (root mean square distance standard deviation) for Sentinel 2, Bing Aerial, and unoccupied aerial vehicle orthophoto, respectively. Eliminating the lowest performing contributions for Sentinel 2 using a Random Forest regression-based quality indicator improves the accuracy by up to 35% in the root mean square distance compared to a random selection, and up to 54% compared to a supervised remote sensing classification. Results for Sentinel 2 show that low slope, low terrain ruggedness index, and high normalised difference vegetation index values are correlated to high spatial mapping deviations, with Pearson correlation coefficients of −0.61, −0.5, and 0.18, respectively. Our approach is a powerful alternative for authoritative mapping of morphologically complex environmental phenomena and can provide independent reference data for supervised automatic remote sensing analysis.

This paper introduces methods for monitoring rock slope movements in Alpine environments based on terrestrial images. The first method is a photogrammtric point cloud-based deformation analysis, relying on M3C2. Although effective in identifying large changes, the method has a tendency to underestimate smaller-scale movements. A feature-based method is presented to address this limitation, using SIFT features to track keypoints in images from different epochs. These automatically detected 3D vectors offer high spatial density and enable small-scale movement detection in the order of a few millimeters. The results are incorporated into a deformation analysis that allows statistically based conclusions about the ongoing movements. The workflow relies on georegistration using Ground Control Points. To investigate the possibility of avoiding these points, a registration method based on the ICP algorithm and M3C2 is tested. The study utilizes data from an active landslide site at Hochvogel Mountain in the Alps, analyzing changes and deformations from 2018 to 2021, revealing an average motion of 75 mm.

The awareness of floods and estimating the debris flow is a fundamental step for assessing risk and planning in the watershed. The village of Sijan, located in the Southern Alborz, is one of the areas threatened by debris flows. The research aimed to estimate the volume of debris flows along 700 m of a stream of Sijan Village time range from 2018 to 2021. The study method included surveying the stream in two-time intervals, which involved one concrete and four gabion checkdams, and calculation of erosion and sedimentation happened via debris flow using the Civil-3D software. Results showed that five check dams had 823 m2 and 750 m3 area and volume, respectively. Debris flows covered 25500 m2 after the flood in 2019, in which the estimated erosion and deposition volumes were 7250 m3 and 10100 m3 according to the elevation difference technique. The Sijan stream channel experienced sedimentation and erosion along the northern and southern banks. Implemented watershed management measures have played a vital role in mitigating the risk of debris flows, especially at the concrete check dam.

This paper examines the effects of implementing relative orientation constraints on bundle adjustment, as well as provides a full derivation of the Jacobian matrix for such an adjustment, that can be used to facilitate other implementations of bundle adjustment with constrained cameras. We present empirical evidence demonstrating improved accuracy and reduced computational load when these constraints are imposed.

In the view of climate change, understanding and managing effects on coastal areas and adjacent cities is essential. Permanent Laser Scanning (PLS) is a successful technique to not only observe notably sandy coasts incidentally or once every year, but (nearly) continuously over extended periods of time. The collected point cloud observations form a 4D point cloud data set representing the evolution of the coast provide the opportunity to assess change processes at high level of detail. For an exemplary location in Noordwijk, The Netherlands, three years of hourly point clouds were acquired on a 1 km long section of a typical Dutch urban sandy beach. Often, the so-called level of detection is used to assess point cloud differences from two epochs. To explicitly incorporate the temporal dimension of the height estimates from the point cloud data set, we revisit statistical testing theory. We apply multiple hypothesis testing on elevation time series in order to identify different coastal processes, like aeolian sand transport or bulldozer works. We then estimate the minimal detectable bias for different alternative hypotheses, to quantify the minimal elevation change that can be estimated from the PLS observations over a certain period of time. Additionally, we analyse potential error sources and influences on the elevation estimations and provide orders of magnitudes and possible ways to deal with them. Finally we conclude that elevation time series from a long term PLS data set are a suitable input to identify aeolian sand transport with the help of multiple hypothesis testing. In our example case, slopes of 0.032 m/day and sudden changes of 0.031 m can be identified with statistical power of 80% and with 95% significance in 24-h time series on the upper beach. In the intertidal area the presented method allows to classify daily elevation time series over one month according to the dominating model (sudden change or linear trend) in either eroding or accreting behaviour.

The TriMetrogon Aerial (TMA) archive is an archive of historical images of Antarctica taken by the US Navy between 1940 and 2000 with analogue cameras. The analysis of such historic data can give a view of Antarctica's glaciers predating modern satellite imagery and provide unique insights into the long-term impact of changing climate conditions with essential validation data for climate modelling. However, the lack of semantic information for these images presents a challenge for large-scale computer-driven analysis.Such information can be added to the data using semantic segmentation, but traditional algorithms fail on these scanned historical grayscale images, due to varying image quality, lack of colour information and artefacts in the images. To address this, we present a deep-learning-based U-net workflow. Our approach includes creating training data by pre-processing and labelling the raw images. Furthermore, different versions of the U-net are trained to optimize its hyperparameters and augmentation methods. With the optimal hyper-parameters and augmentation methods, a final model has been trained for a use-case to segment 118 images covering Adelaide Island.We tested our approach by segmenting challenging historical images using a U-net model with just 80 training images, achieving an accuracy of 73% for 20 validation images. While no test data is available for our use case, a visual examination of the segmented images shows that our method performs effectively.The comparison of the hyper-parameters and augmentation methods provides directions for training other U-net-based models so that the presented workflow can be used to segment other archives with historical imagery. Additionally, the labelled training data and the segmented images of the test are publicly available at https://github.com/fdahle/antarctic_segmentation.

The ATLAS sensor onboard the ICESat-2 satellite is a photon-counting lidar (PCL) with a primary mission to map Earth's ice sheets. A secondary goal of the mission is to provide vegetation and terrain elevations, which are essential for calculating the planet's biomass carbon reserves. A drawback of ATLAS is that the sensor does not provide reliable terrain height estimates in dense, high-closure forests because only a few photons reach the ground through the canopy and return to the detector. This low penetration translates into lower accuracy for the resultant terrain model. Tropical forest measurements with ATLAS have an additional problem estimating top of canopy because of frequent atmospheric phenomena such as fog and low clouds that can be misinterpreted as top of the canopy. To alleviate these issues, we propose using a ConvPoint neural network for 3D point clouds and high-density airborne lidar as training data to classify vegetation and terrain returns from ATLAS. The semantic segmentation network provides excellent results and could be used in parallel with the current ATL08 noise filtering algorithms, especially in areas with dense vegetation. We use high-density airborne lidar data acquired along ICESat-2 transects in Central American forests as a ground reference for training the neural network to distinguish between noise photons and photons lying between the terrain and the top of the canopy. Each photon event receives a label (noise or signal) in the test phase, providing automated noise-filtering of the ATL03 data. The terrain and top of canopy elevations are subsequently aggregated in 100 m segments using a series of iterative smoothing filters. We demonstrate improved estimates for both terrain and top of canopy elevations compared to the ATL08 100 m segment estimates. The neural network (NN) noise filtering reliably eliminated outlier top of canopy estimates caused by low clouds, and aggregated root mean square error (RMSE) decreased from 7.7 m for ATL08 to 3.7 m for NN prediction (18 test profiles aggregated). For terrain elevations, RMSE decreased from 5.2 m for ATL08 to 3.3 m for the NN prediction, compared to airborne lidar reference profiles.

UAV-mounted sensors can be used to estimate crop biophysical traits, offering an alternative to traditional field scouting. However, the high temporal resolution offered by UAV platforms, critical for identifying small differences in crop conditions, is rarely exploited throughout the entire growing season. This limits growers' ability to obtain timely information for real-time interventions. New findings support that it is possible to parametrize an entire crop growth cycle under different conditions by accumulating sufficient data over time and using logistic growth models to highlight growth patterns. A step forward would be to model crop growth cycle at the plant-level in order to anticipate the optimal harvest dates in each plot or quickly identify growth problematics. Individual plant monitoring can be achieved by combining high spatial resolution images with accurate segmentation algorithms. The main objective of the study was therefore to develop and validate an integrated pipeline based on multidimensional data to extract predictive growth metrics for crop monitoring at the plant-level under various field conditions. The plant growth monitoring workflow was based on a three-step design ultimately leading to decision-making and reporting. Lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) was chosen as a model plant due to its simple geometry, rapid growth and simple cultivation method. Treatments were composed of contrasting cover crops. Overall, correlation analysis showed that UAV-derived morphological metrics are reliable proxies for harvested biomass throughout the growing season, especially in later stages (Spearman's ρ > 0.9) and can be used as growth indicators. Therefore, Logistic Growth Curves (LGCs) were fitted to Crop Object Area (COA) values for each individual lettuce, using data up to 26 (generating G26 LGCs), 30 (G30) and 37 (G37) Days After Transplant (DAT). To assess the quality of their projections, G26 and G30 were compared to the reference LGC G37. The results indicated that Mean Absolute Percentage Error (MAPE) of projected COA was 9.6% and 6.8% for G26 and G30 respectively. Overall, the LGC parameters were close to the reference and highly correlated with the harvested biomass. The study also demonstrated the potential of having very good insight on plant maturity level by modeling the LGC 13 days before harvest. Furthermore, a dashboard was proposed to monitor current and projected maturity level, highlighting areas for further investigation. This novel integrated pipeline has the potential to become a valuable tool for research, on-farm decision making, and field interventions by providing data on plant biomass, maturity, and growth stages under different conditions, used as crop growth indicators.

Advances in visualisation techniques provide new ways for us to explore how we introduce complex topics like remote sensing to non-specialist audiences. Taking inspiration from the popularity of augmented reality (AR) apps, a free, mobile digital AR app titled SatelliteSkill5, has been developed for both Androids and iPhones in Unity AR. SatelliteSkill5 helps users conceptualise remote sensing (RS) theory and technology by showcasing the potential of datasets such as multispectral images, SAR backscatter, drone orthophotography, and bathymetric LIDAR for tackling real-world challenges, with examples tackling many of the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as the focus. Leveraging tried and tested pedagogic practices such as active learning, game-based learning, and targeting cross-curricular topics, SatelliteSkill5 introduces users to many of the fundamental geospatial data themes identified by the UN as essential for meeting the SDGs, imparting users with a familiarity of concepts such as land cover, elevation, land parcels, bathymetry, and soil. The SatelliteSkill5 app was piloted in 12 Irish schools during 2021 and 2022 and with 861 students ranging from 12 to 18 years old. This research shows that both students and teachers value learning in an easy-to-use AR environment and that SDGs help users to better understand complex remote sensing theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We developed Environmental Niche Models (ENMs) for the two species of semi-aquatic snakes from the genus Natrix occurring in Bulgaria (N. natrix, N. tessellata). The Maxent-generated ENMs had high AUC values (>0.86). Three variables common between the two models contributed 73.7% for N. natrix and 70.6% for N. tessellata: ‘distance to (the nearest natural) flowing water’ (28.1% for N. natrix and 32% for N. tessellata), ‘distance to (the nearest) standing water’ (25.5% and 14.4%), and ‘elevation’ (20.1% and 24.2%). Natrix natrix has a wider ecological niche, potentially comprising 15% of Bulgaria, compared to 8% for N. tessellata; the niches overlap to a large extent (Shoener’s D = 0.708). These ENMs are especially helpful for guiding future surveys, especially in under-sampled areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The authors of the article address the international experience of implementation and use of the concept of evaluation and cost management of Life Cycle Costing (LCC) and Whole Life Appraisal (WLA) of real estate objects. The author’s interpretation of the issues and ways of introduction of this concept in developing countries, in particular in Ukraine, is presented. The article describes the tools and forms of public-private partnership for implementing this concept in the practice of effective functioning of socio-economic systems. Specifics of the managing life cycle costing of real estate objects basing on such approaches/ methods as development, maintenance, surveying, and concession are determined. The paper emphasizes the practical significance for all interested parties in the real estate development market of using methods of a comprehensive and systematic approach to the integrated evaluation of assets in the process of their design, construction, operation, and maintenance. The authors focus on the need for comprehensive accounting of the costs of the whole life cycle of a product (both construction products in the form of buildings and structures, and any high-tech products with a long life cycle from its design to disposal). Notable cost management methods (Kaizen Costing, Standard Costing, and Target costing) are considered, as a significant component of the LCC/WLA concept the development. The authors analyse the role of corporate investment funds, joint investment institutions, professional associations, and asset management companies in the implementation of the LCC/WLA concept in the field of real estate development. The respective statistical data (from Ukrainian practical experience) that can be used to prognosticate the impact of inflation in the construction industry are cited. The significance of database digitalization and BIM technologies in the introduction of the regarded concepts in the practice of construction and development activities is stressed.

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to investigate the challenges of pricing quantity surveying (QS) professional services to enhance the understanding of practitioners in developing strategies for the determination of fees for their services. Design/methodology/approach – The paper adopts the quantitative approach by administering 150 survey questionnaires QS professionals out of which 79 questionnaires were retrieved for analysis using the mean, standard deviation, standard error and the Chi-Square test. Findings – The study identified the challenges that continue to hamper the successful pricing of QS services as the inability to respond to changing contractual arrangements; lack of appropriate response to emerging services; slow response to changes in information and communication technology. Research limitations/implications – This paper focused on QS professionals. Hence, a future study to encompass other professionals in the built environment will be novel. Practical implications – The findings of this paper have the potential to motivate QS firms to develop solutions that address the challenges identified to improve the efficiency of their service delivery to clients. The paper also has the practical importance of opening up new frontiers of research that focus on pricing of professional services in the built environment in general. Originality/value – The paper contributes to the awareness and understanding of QS professionals about the challenges that continue to hamper effective pricing of their services.