Normalized cuts for single tree isolation from LiDAR

This study attempts to demonstrate a developing method for the isolation of individual trees in a canopy from 3-dimensional laser scanning data. This method is capable of delineating single trees from a storied canopy, and is effective for individual tree isolation. This research focused on writing a freeware version of the Normalized Cut (NCuts) method of single tree segmentation to compare with a more commonly applied Hierarchical Watershed Transform (HWT) within an urban setting. For this study two field sites located within the urban build-up of San Francisco, CA were selected. The results of this work were unable to demonstrate an effective implementation of the Normalized Cut method coded using freeware libraries. Multiple methods were attempted however none were capable of creating high accuracy results. This study also attempted to demonstrate the effectiveness and feasibility of using freeware coding tools for research to enable a wider range of research possibilities without the expense of large software packages