POTENTIAL OF ORTHO-RECTIFIED HIGH RESOLUTION SATELLITE IMAGERY FOR UPDATING THE FOREST STAND MAPS

초록

Relatively large-scale (1:25,000) forest stand map has been used for managing forest resources in Korea since early 1970’s. Although aerial photography is still a primary data to produce the high quality forest stand map, this method requires a great amount of time and effort. Furthermore, the ten years of updating cycle is often too long to reflect the current status of forestland that has frequently changed by several causes of human and natural interference. The objective of this paper is to assess the potential of high-resolution satellite imagery for updating vector map of forest stands. We have used 1m resolution IKONOS imagery to detect and update forest changes during the last ten years. After the ortho-rectification, the high-resolution satellite imagery was overlaid to the forest stand map. The IKONOS imagery was evaluated by visual interpretation according to the level of detail (species, stand age, crown size and density), which has been obtainable from the traditional aerial photograph. Although the satellite images could not match with the detail and accuracy of aerialphoto-derived information, they can be used to detect and update the most recent and major changes in the forest stand map.