Date and time: 26th September 2025; 1:00 – 1:45 PM (CET) – Drone4Tree: An option to process large-scale UAV raw data for forest applications
The CLEANFOREST webinar series is hosted by COST Action’s Young Researchers community for all interested researchers and practitioners, usually during the second and fourth week of every month. We are honored to announce that for the twenty-sixth event in the series, we will be joined by Ulf Mallast from the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research GmbH – UFZ, Leipzig, Germany. A short summary of his talk is given below.
Forests cover 31% of global land and support 80% of terrestrial biodiversity, providing essential ecosystem services. However, they are increasingly vulnerable to climate change. Monitoring forest structure at the individual tree level is vital for assessing ecosystem responses to climate anomalies. UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) offer an efficient means of tree canopy detection, enabling extraction of essential ecosystem (EEVs) and biodiversity variables (EBVs). Yet, applying UAV data and processing algorithms can be challenging for many users. To address this, we developed Drone4Tree, a user-friendly platform for automated processing of UAV images. Users can upload raw UAV data to generate orthomosaics, detect individual tree canopies, and monitor key traits. Processing runs on high-performance servers, removing the need for local computing power. The platform integrates open-source tools such as OpenDroneMap (for orthomosaics), DeepForest and U-Net (for canopy detection), and GDAL and AROSICS (for co-registration and reprojection).
Drone4Tree offers standard and advanced modes, allowing both novice and expert users to process and download results easily. It supports time-series generation for phenological monitoring and spectral library creation from multispectral data. This facilitates species mapping and supports forest research and management through detailed characterisation of tree-level attributes.
Deadline: please sign up via the registration link above BEFORE the webinar.
Contact:
- Presenter: Ulf Mallast; ulf.mallast@ufz.de
- Webinar convenor: Andrei Popa; popa.andrei.dorna@gmail.com
- Webinar co-convenor: Jakub Jelen; kuba.jelen@wp.pl
