Special Issue "Geospatial Monitoring of Urban Green Space"
A special issue of Forests (ISSN 1999-4907). This special issue belongs to the section "Urban Forestry".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 October 2023 | Viewed by 1919
Special Issue Editors

Interests: computer vision; remote sensing; photogrammetry; lidar; unmanned aerial vehicles; geodesy; geographic information system; geoinformation; geoinformatics (GIS); 3D computer vision; satellite image analysis; mapping
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Interests: computer vision; remote sensing; photogrammetry; lidar; unmanned aerial vehicles; geodesy; geographic information system; geoinformation; geoinformatics (GIS); 3D computer vision; satellite image analysis; mapping
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Interests: remote sensing; geoinformatics; hydrology; ecological modeling; machine learning; habitat mapping; forest services and functions; soil science
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
A green infrastructure (GI) is a network of natural and semi-natural areas, features and green spaces in rural and urban areas that collectively provide society with a sustainable and healthy living environment. In Europe, more than two-thirds of the population live in urban areas, and it is a highly urbanized continent with a slow but steady degradation of urban green vegetation.
Satellite remote sensing technology is key data source for mapping such environments but is insufficient for fully understanding them. GI also comprise vertical structures, such as green terraces and balconies that are not detectable by the perpendicular satellite imagery which is often used to monitor GI.
The main objective of this Special Issue is to collect research from different perspectives, and to establish an innovative, multidimensional system for monitoring urban green infrastructure. This Special Issue will integrate the latest means of data collection (multispectral satellite imagery, improved and calibrated with high-resolution terrestrial and airborne multispectral sources) and advanced spatial analysis to improve the decision-support system for better management of urban GI. Review papers on this topic are also welcome.
Authors are encouraged to submit articles on, but not limited to, the following subjects:
- Deep learning methods using remote sensing data;
- Multitemporal and multi-sensor data fusion and classification of green urban areas;
- Time-series image analysis;
- Monitoring of urban green spaces;
- SAR-based features;
- Optical-based features;
- Usage of the analysis-ready image collections and cloud computing services;
- Geospatial data analysis of urban green spaces;
- Automatic mapping of urban green spaces;
- Geospatial analysis of the distribution of urban green spaces.
Dr. Dino Dobrinic
Dr. Mateo Gašparović
Dr. Ivan Pilaš
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Forests is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2000 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- urban green spaces
- remote sensing
- deep learning
- classification
- geospatial techniques
- monitoring
- green infrastructure
- SAR-based features
- optical-based features
Planned Papers
The below list represents only planned manuscripts. Some of these manuscripts have not been received by the Editorial Office yet. Papers submitted to MDPI journals are subject to peer-review.
Title: Mapping of Allergenic Tree Species in Highly Urbanized Area using Planetscope Imagery – A Case Study of Zagreb, Croatia
Authors: Mateo Gašparović; Dino Dobrinić; Ivan Pilaš
Affiliation: Chair of Geoinformatics, Faculty of Geodesy, University of Zagreb, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract: Identifying and locating allergenic plants in highly urbanized areas is an important task as it helps for an understanding of their distribution and prevalence in urban areas. Urbanization can lead to changes in the tree species composition, which can significantly impact the health of residents, particularly those with allergies. However, using remote sensing (RS) satellite data for accurate detection of individual allergenic tree species is challenging due to their smaller site and patchiness in urban green spaces. To overcome these issues, PlanetScope (PS) satellite imagery offers significant benefits compared with moderate or high-resolution RS imagery due to its daily temporal resolution and 3 m spatial resolution, providing an effective solution to overcome existing issues. Therefore, the primary objectives of this research were to: assess the feasibility of mapping allergenic tree species in the highly urbanized area using high-resolution PS imagery; evaluate and compare the performance of the most important machine learning and feature selection methods for accurate detection of individual allergenic tree species. The results showed that individual allergenic tree species could be successfully mapped using multitemporal PS imagery with ancillary data (i.e., vegetation indices and texture features). Extreme Gradient Boosting classifier outperformed Random Forest and Multi-Layer Perceptron, whereas VSURF obtained the best feature selection method. By identifying and mapping allergenic tree species, city planners and public health officials can make informed decisions about tree planting and management.