Individual Tree Detection in Large-Scale Urban Environments using High-Resolution Multispectral Imagery

We introduce a novel deep learning method for detection of individual trees in urban environments using high-resolution multispectral aerial imagery. We use a convolutional neural network to regress a confidence map indicating the locations of individual trees, which are localized using a peak finding algorithm. Our method provides complete spatial coverage by detecting trees in both public and private spaces, and can scale to very large areas. In our study area spanning five cities in Southern California, we achieved an F-score of 0.735 and an RMSE of 2.157 m. We used our method to produce a map of all trees in the urban forest of California, indicating the potential for our method to support future urban forestry studies at unprecedented scales.