Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL

Remote Sensing

We develop and apply comprehensive and robust methods to extract and classify natural objects from continuous and discrete raster datasets. Relevant features are acquired to describe changes in landscape and land resources at different levels using image data. Mathematical-statistical methods are adopted for automatic detection and description of image objects. Thus we contribute concepts, methods and data to describe/detect area wide changes and processes in the resources of landscape.

Tasks and main research

  • Development and application of methods to extract natural objects from continuous data.
  • Development of methods for a comprehensive description of natural and anthropogenetic boundaries in continuous pattern (e.g. map signatures, vegetation transition, forest borders).
  • Development and application of methods to extract 3D-information from remotely sensed data for description of natural structures and changes. The main focus lies on wood and its embedding/interaction within/with the landscape.
  • Conception and development of data acquisition based on high resolution remote sensing data.
  • Conception, development and maintenance of the software interface in area wide data acquisition using airborne remote sensing data.
  • Scientific expert advice and support in the fields of photogrammetry and survey at WSL. Maintenance, enhancements and future development in these specific fields.
  • Adequate presentation of scientific results on national level and in noted international journals and at international congresses/workshops/symposia.

Projects

Forest Restoration and Climate Change in Armenia (FORACCA)

The FORACCA project, funded by Swiss Development Cooperation (SDC), aims to support climate-smart forest restoration and climate-resilient local development in Armenia. The project provides cutting-edge knowledge and targeted support for policy development and implementation at different impact level.

Open Laser Scanning Database for characterization of Forest Biophysical properties and beyond (Forest3DTwin)

In the project Forest3DTwin, we want to build a prototype for the open storage of measured 3D forest plot data with reference data and are convinced that this can be established at WSL in the long term.

Phenotyping for adaptation (PhenoAdapt)

The goal of this project is to contribute to the evaluation of non-native tree species that could potentially mitigate mortality in our forests, through scalable drone-based phenotyping approaches and the assessment of mechanistic traits, such as phenological plasticity and drought stress-resistance

Ditch mapping for Switzerland by using semantic segmentation

Proper ditch detection and maintenance within forests is critical to protect the environment and infrastructure. The project focuses on the ditch detection for the entire country using semantic segmentation.

3D Tree - An Alternative Visualization Approach for Complex Data

This project investigates different ways of visualizing the complex data collected at the Pfynwald research site.

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Services and products

Scenarios of land-use change for Switzerland

The results of the scenario modelling are available in raster format for non-commercial use by interested parties. PDF versions of maps for each scenario are available here for download.

Staff

Remote Sensing

Christian Ginzler

Group leader

Ramona Allemann

Trainee

Ruedi Bösch

Temporary employee

Claudio Bozzini

Temporary employee

Ewa Bubula

Trainee

Petra DOdorico

Scientific staff member

Birgit Eben

Technical staff member

Ginevra Fabiani

Postdoc

Dominic Fawcett

Postdoc

Liv Fritsche

Visiting scientist

Charis Moana Gretler

Scientific staff member

Yuanyuan Gui

PhD student guest

Matthias Pierre Hägeli

Temporary employee

Serhii Havryliuk

Visiting scientist

Nica Huber

Visiting scientist

Markus Immitzer

Visiting scientist

Tiziana Li Koch

Visiting scientist

Natalia Kolecka

Scientific staff member

Daniel Stefan Kükenbrink

Scientific staff member

Manuel Luck

Technical specialist

Mauro Marty

Technical staff member

Anita Nussbaumer

Technical staff member

Cécile Nyffeler

Software engineer

Livia Piermattei

Visiting scientist

Bronwyn Price

Technical staff member

Achilleas Psomas

Technical staff member

Marius Rüetschi

Technical specialist

Barbara Schneider

IT specialist

Jan Schweizer

Visiting scientist

Peter Thür

Technical specialist

Urs Treier

Visiting scientist

Daniel Uebersax

Technical staff member

Zuyuan Wang

Scientific staff member

Lars Waser

Senior Researcher

Dominique Weber

Technical staff member

Clare Webster

Scientific staff member
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