Better Estimates?

Estimating tree heights is an inexact Science when does with the speed we do them. Add in the challenges of often only getting poor views of the canopy from our given vantage points and we are left with some clear error in our estimates of tree heights when the trees in question are more than 3 or 4m tall.

Drones to the Rescue?

It was with this concern in mind that we ran a trial for one day this trip. We independently visually estimated tree heights, then flew up one of our drones into the air adjacent to the tree in question.We will have a more detailed post later, but our first pass is looking interesting.

No Consistent Bias

So far it looks like we don’t over- or under-estimate trees consistently. Rather the shape of the particular tree and/or the surrounding canopy are much more confounding issues when one seeks to estimate the height of a given tree top.