Vegetation Classification and Mapping Project Report - the USGS

List of Figures
Figure Description Page
Figure 1. Location of (a) Appalachian Mountains and (b) Great Smoky 9
Mountains National Park in eastern United States.
Figure 2. 3D perspective view of GRSM constructed from a mosaic of SPOT 11
multispectral images draped over a digital elevation model. Elevations
range from approximately 200 to over 2000 m above sea level.
Figure 3. An example of a large-scale color infrared aerial photograph recorded 12
in October 1997 and used for photo interpretation of vegetation detail.
Figure 4. Diagram showing photogrammetric, photointerpretation and GIS 14
operations used to map the vegetation of GRSM.
Figure 5. Tree tops were used as pass points in overlapping images in the 16
heavily forested GRSM.
Figure 6. The elevations of ground control points (GCPs) were determined from 16
the 30-m digital elevation model (DEM) using bilinear interpolation.
Figure 7. A mosaic of orthorectified 1:12,000-scale photographs was created 17
for quality assurance and checking.
Figure 8. Ground digital image of overstory and understory vegetation recorded 18
with a Kodak FIS 265 digital camera interfaced to a Garmin III Plus GPS.
Figure 9. (a) Original photo overlay depicting vegetation polygons and a 1-cm grid 21
before corrections for relief displacement. (b) Overlay and grid after
orthorectification showing the extreme corrections required to accommodate
the large range of relief in the area.
Figure 10. Individual vector files from four adjacent photos that have been edited 22
and edge matched.
Figure 11. Hardcopy vegetation maps plotted at 1:15,000 scale correspond to the area 23
covered by 25 individual USGS 7.5-minute topographic quadrangles in
GRSM as outlined on this generalized overview map of GRSM overstory
vegetation.
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