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Accuracy of smartphone applications in the field measurements of tree height Cover

Accuracy of smartphone applications in the field measurements of tree height

Open Access
|Mar 2016

Abstract

As tree height is one of the important variables measured in forestry, much effort is made to provide its fast, easy and accurate determination. We analysed precision of two widely available smartphone applications (Smart Measure and Measure Height) during the field measurements of tree height. The data was collected in three Scots pine stands in central Poland. We found negative systematic error of both tested applications regardless the distance of the measurement (15 or 20 m). RMSE values of the height estimates varied from 1.01 to 2.46 m depending on the application used and the distance of the measurement. Value of the calculated absolute and relative errors significantly (p < 0.015) positively depended on the actual height of the measured trees and was more diverse for higher trees. Smartphone applications seem to be promising measurement tool for tree height determination, however as for the time being they require improvement before wider introduction into the forest practice.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/ffp-2015-0025 | Journal eISSN: 2199-5907 | Journal ISSN: 0071-6677
Language: English
Page range: 240 - 244
Submitted on: Jun 3, 2015
Accepted on: Oct 15, 2015
Published on: Mar 7, 2016
Published by: Forest Research Institute
In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services
Publication frequency: 4 issues per year

© 2016 Szymon Bijak, Jakub Sarzyński, published by Forest Research Institute
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.