Interpine’s TreeTools Near Realtime Drone Inventory tool has been developed for foresters to assess stocking in Post Thin stands. This is an early test version release for Windows operating systems, and the project is still ongoing. The purpose of the release is to give stakeholders an opportunity to test and provide feedback, while encouraging them to submit more data. The accuracy of the stocking assessment given depends on multiple factors, including effectiveness of canopy recognition and the precision of drone altitude maintenance. Our goal is to keep the stocking error below 10% under normal conditions, and user corrections can easily be made to the stocking assessment. The following provides an overview for data capture and a guide to using the software.
This project has been developed with funding assistance from the Precision Silviculture Programme, A Sustainable Food and Fibre Futures (SFFF) partnership between MPI and the forest industry led by Forest Growers Research. This is freely available during the development funding to provide for industry feedback.
Currently supported drones / drone sensors: DJI Phantom 4, DJI Phantom 4 Pro, DJI Mavic 2, DJI Mavic 3 Enterprise, DJI Mini 3 Pro, DJI Mavic 3 Multispectral, DJI L1 RGB Sensor
Current Release Notes
V2.01, 19 Dec 2024. Improve the interface to make it more user-friendly. Added video processing function and stream processing function.
Both video process and stream process need to choose drone type first. The video process is designed so that you can figure it out how to use it at a glance. Click “Save” button to save the current result and click “Exit” to terminate the process and a Summary.csv will be generated.
For real-time stream process, before clicking “GetIP” button your computer and your drone’s controller need to be in a same Local Area Network (LAN). The practical way of doing this is to turn on your phone’s hotspot and connect both your computer and your drone’s controller to the hotspot. It doesn’t need your phone has to catch signal in field. After connecting successfully, click “GetIP” button and the RTMP address will be printed on the right-side console window. Then type it to your drone controller and start streaming. The video stream will be pushed to your computer. Select the correct drone type and click “Video Stream Go” button. You should see the real-time inference result comes up. Fly your drone to watch around. Click “Save” button to save the current result at any time and click “Exit” to terminate the process and a Summary.csv will be generated.
V1.04, 6 Dec 2024. Added additional supported drone camera sensor for DJI Mini 3 Pro. Updated the post-thinning model. Added a function of using DTM to obtain flight height smartly and more precisely. Now the DTM method only supports DJI Mavic 3 Enterprise and DJI L1 RGB Sensor. The best DTM should be 1m tiles, and the coordinate system has to be WGS84 + EGM96 Height (EPSG:9707).
V1.03, 15 Nov 2024. Added additional supported drone camera sensor for DJI Mavic 3 Multispectral. Added a new column ‘PlotsToReach10PctPLE‘ in ‘Summary.csv’ to suggest how many plots are needed to reach 10% PLE.
V1.02, 11 Nov 2024. Added additional supported drone camera sensors for the DJI Phantom 4, DJI L1 RGB Sensor. Added a KMZ output, where all output results can be easily opened in Google Earth Pro.
V1.01, 5 Nov 2024. Initial beta release for testing and development purposes. Currently supported drones are the DJI Phantom 4 Pro, Mavic 2, Mavic 3 Enterprise.
Capturing Data with Your Own Drone
- Images taken by a drone for the TreeTools stocking assessment must have a gimbal pitch angle of 90 degrees (directly down).
- Terrain Awareness is also required so that the drone can maintain a constant height above ground during the flight.
- Please follow the quick card below for data collection. It should be noted that, aside from Terrain Awareness, which must be enabled, all other options can be adjusted as needed. Preferred flight height is 100-120m AGL (above ground level). The line spacing is more of a suggestion, and there is no need for any image overlap, and it relates more to the intensity of coverage and plots you would like across the stand.
Quick Card for Data Collection
Software Quick Reference Guide
Video Tutorial
A quick start video to get you up and running.
Step 1 Download the Software and Update Parameters
Request to download the software using our contact form. After downloading the software, simply double-click to use.
The following GUI will appear. Customize those parameters to fit your data.
“Assumed AGL” is the flight height above the ground in meters. “Tree Height est.” is the average tree height roughly estimated for the target area in meters. This is used to approximate the distance from the drone to the treetops based on the assumed AGL. Currently, “Post-Thinning” and “Early Age Assessment” models are available, however models tailored for more scenarios will be released gradually.
The download includes a license valid for the next two months. Please contact us after it expires.
STEP 2 – Download Your Images from the Drone and Select Folder/s of Images to be Processed
Click “Select Images to Process” button, then select the folder containing the target data.
STEP 3 – Image Processing to Virtual Forest Inventory Plots
The images in the folder, including those in the subfolders, will be processed one by one. The stocking is represented as “TreesPerHectare”. You will see each image pop up with the detection and stocking estimates as it is processed.
STEP 4 – Review the Virtual Inventory Plots and Summarized Results
After the processing is complete, output images, “Result.csv“, “Summary.csv”, “Output.kmz” are generated. The outputs and related information for all images are contained in “Result.csv“, which can be imported in ArcPro or any GIS software for further analysis. “Summary.csv” contains average stocking and other statistical analysis for the area of interest. The KMZ file can be opened in Google Earth Pro to view the images in their spatial location. The output images for every submitted image can be double-checked manually to correct the stocking information. For example, if you find a missing tree in the yellow circle, then add a “TreeFreq” to the “TreesPerHectare” number for a correct stocking. On the other hand, if you find an area that is mistakenly marked as a tree but isn’t one, then subtract a “TreeFreq” from the “TreesPerHectare” number.
For support use our contact form to reach out. Thanks for using TreeTools-RealTime. Follow us for more detail on our product page.