Forest Vertical Structure Mapping from Bi-Seasonal Sentinel-2 Images and UAV-Derived DSM Using Random Forest, Support Vector Machine, and XGBoost

Forest vertical structure is vital for comprehending ecosystems and biodiversity, in addition to fundamental forest information. Currently, the forest vertical structure is predominantly assessed via an in-situ method, which is not only difficult to apply to inaccessible locations or large areas but also costly and requires substantial human resources. Therefore, mapping systems based on remote sensing data have been actively explored. Recently, research on analyzing and classifying images using machine learning techniques has been actively conducted and applied to map the vertical structure of forests accurately. In this study, Sentinel-2 and digital surface model images were obtained on two different dates separated by approximately one month, and the spectral index and tree height maps were generated separately. Furthermore, according to the acquisition time, the input data were separated into cases 1 and 2, which were then combined to generate case 3. Using these data, forest vetical structure mapping models based on random forest, support vector machine, and extreme gradient boost (XGBoost) were generated. Consequently, nine models were generated, with the XGBoost model in Case 3 performing the best, with an average precision of 0.99 and an F1 score of 0.91. We confirmed that generating a forest vertical structure mapping model utilizing bi-seasonal data and an appropriate model can result in an accuracy of 90% or higher.