Potential of Spot 5 imagery for forest inventory

Abstract

The current needs of an in-depth knowledge about forest ecosystems requires the support of very detailed information. That is why up to now air-born imagery has been preferred to satellite imagery for forest inventory applications, at least in Italy. The new satellite sensors with high or very high spatial resolution and quite high spectral resolution allow to overcome such a limit and can be considered as suitable data for forest mapping at high and medium scales as well as inventory supports. In such a view, this paper shows the results of an experimental comparison between sampling point photointerpretation by Spot 5 images and by digital orthophotos (grey scale/8 bit), over a 15000-ha-wide study area in Central Italy. Albeit a more enlarged testing is needed for definitive conclusions, the obtained results already prove the significative efficiency of Spot 5 high resolution images for forest inventory application.