{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,6]],"date-time":"2026-04-06T02:28:35Z","timestamp":1775442515540,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":46,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"12","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2017,12,19]],"date-time":"2017-12-19T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1513641600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["IJGI"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Virtual geographic environments (VGEs) have been regarded as an important new means of simulating, analyzing, and understanding complex geological processes. Plants and light are major components of the geographic environment. Light is a critical factor that affects ecological systems. In this study, we focused on simulating light transmission and distribution within a three-dimensional plant canopy model. A progressive refinement radiosity algorithm was applied to simulate the transmission and distribution of solar light within a detailed, three-dimensional (3D) loquat (Eriobotrya japonica Lindl.) canopy model. The canopy was described in three dimensions, and each organ surface was represented by a set of triangular facets. The form factors in radiosity were calculated using a hemi-cube algorithm. We developed a module for simulating the instantaneous light distribution within a virtual canopy, which was integrated into ParaTree. We simulated the distribution of photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) within a loquat canopy, and calculated the total PAR intercepted at the whole canopy scale, as well as the mean PAR interception per unit leaf area. The ParaTree-integrated radiosity model simulates the uncollided propagation of direct solar and diffuse sky light and the light-scattering effect of foliage. The PAR captured by the whole canopy based on the radiosity is approximately 9.4% greater than that obtained using ray tracing and TURTLE methods. The latter methods do not account for the scattering among leaves in the canopy in the study, and therefore, the difference might be due to the contribution of light scattering in the foliage. The simulation result is close to Myneni\u2019s findings, in which the light scattering within a canopy is less than 10% of the incident PAR. Our method can be employed for visualizing and analyzing the spatial distribution of light within a canopy, and for estimating the PAR interception at the organ and canopy levels. It is useful for designing plant canopy architecture (e.g., fruit trees and plants in urban greening) and planting planning.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ijgi6120405","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2017,12,19]],"date-time":"2017-12-19T10:48:40Z","timestamp":1513680520000},"page":"405","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":5,"title":["Virtual Geographic Simulation of Light Distribution within Three-Dimensional Plant Canopy Models"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"6","author":[{"given":"Liyu","family":"Tang","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Key Laboratory of Spatial Data Mining &amp; Information Sharing of Ministry of Education, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou 350116, China"},{"name":"National Engineering Research Center of Geospatial Information Technology, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou 350116, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Dan","family":"Yin","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Key Laboratory of Spatial Data Mining &amp; Information Sharing of Ministry of Education, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou 350116, China"},{"name":"National Engineering Research Center of Geospatial Information Technology, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou 350116, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Shuwei","family":"Chen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Key Laboratory of Spatial Data Mining &amp; Information Sharing of Ministry of Education, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou 350116, China"},{"name":"National Engineering Research Center of Geospatial Information Technology, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou 350116, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Chongcheng","family":"Chen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Key Laboratory of Spatial Data Mining &amp; Information Sharing of Ministry of Education, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou 350116, China"},{"name":"National Engineering Research Center of Geospatial Information Technology, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou 350116, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Hongyu","family":"Huang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Key Laboratory of Spatial Data Mining &amp; Information Sharing of Ministry of Education, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou 350116, China"},{"name":"National Engineering Research Center of Geospatial Information Technology, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou 350116, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Ding","family":"Lin","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Key Laboratory of Spatial Data Mining &amp; Information Sharing of Ministry of Education, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou 350116, China"},{"name":"National Engineering Research Center of Geospatial Information Technology, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou 350116, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2017,12,19]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"99","DOI":"10.1016\/j.compenvurbsys.2014.07.010","article-title":"Integrating an urban green space typology into procedural 3D visualization for collaborative planning","volume":"48","author":"Neuenschwander","year":"2014","journal-title":"Comput. Environ. Urban Syst."},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"74","DOI":"10.1016\/j.earscirev.2013.08.001","article-title":"Virtual geographic environments (vges): A new generation of geographic analysis tool","volume":"126","author":"Lin","year":"2013","journal-title":"Earth-Sci. Rev."},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"480","DOI":"10.5465\/amr.2007.24351453","article-title":"Developing theory through simulation methods","volume":"32","author":"Davis","year":"2007","journal-title":"Acad. Manag. Rev."},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"6975","DOI":"10.1007\/s12665-015-4761-4","article-title":"Developing dynamic virtual geographic environments (vges) for geographic research","volume":"74","author":"Chen","year":"2015","journal-title":"Environ. Earth Sci."},{"key":"ref_5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"94","DOI":"10.1016\/j.envsoft.2014.11.019","article-title":"An open-source 3D solar radiation model integrated with a 3D geographic information system","volume":"64","author":"Liang","year":"2015","journal-title":"Environ. Model. Softw."},{"key":"ref_6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"465","DOI":"10.1080\/00045608.2012.689234","article-title":"Virtual geographic environment: A workspace for computer-aided geographic experiments","volume":"103","author":"Lin","year":"2013","journal-title":"Ann. Assoc. Am. Geogr."},{"key":"ref_7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"45","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ecolmodel.2013.12.001","article-title":"Light interception efficiency of apple trees: A multiscale computational study based on mapplet","volume":"290","author":"Han","year":"2014","journal-title":"Ecol. Model."},{"key":"ref_8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"262","DOI":"10.1016\/j.buildenv.2016.04.025","article-title":"Simulation study on the impact of tree-configuration, planting pattern and wind condition on street-canyon\u2019s micro-climate and thermal comfort","volume":"103","author":"Morakinyo","year":"2016","journal-title":"Build. Environ."},{"key":"ref_9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"62","DOI":"10.1016\/j.landurbplan.2016.09.022","article-title":"Enhancing the energy conservation benefits of shade trees in dense residential developments using an alternative tree placement strategy","volume":"158","author":"Hwang","year":"2017","journal-title":"Landsc. Urban Plan."},{"key":"ref_10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"98","DOI":"10.1016\/j.agrformet.2012.06.014","article-title":"Simple envelope-based reconstruction methods can infer light partitioning among individual plants in sparse and dense herbaceous canopies","volume":"166","author":"Louarn","year":"2012","journal-title":"Agric. For. Meteorol."},{"key":"ref_11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Goral, C.M., Torrance, K.E., Greenberg, D.P., and Battaile, B. (1984). Modeling the Interaction of Light Between Diffuse Surfaces, ACM. ACM SIGGRAPH Computer Graphics.","DOI":"10.1145\/800031.808601"},{"key":"ref_12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"213","DOI":"10.1016\/0034-4257(88)90026-0","article-title":"Calculation of canopy bidirectional reflectance using the Monte Carlo method","volume":"24","author":"Ross","year":"1988","journal-title":"Remote Sens. Environ."},{"key":"ref_13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"323","DOI":"10.1016\/0168-1923(91)90069-3","article-title":"Modeling radiative transfer and photosynthesis in three-dimensional vegetation canopies","volume":"55","author":"Myneni","year":"1991","journal-title":"Agric. For. Meteorol."},{"key":"ref_14","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"155","DOI":"10.1016\/j.rse.2013.11.016","article-title":"Abstract tree crowns in 3D radiative transfer models: Impact on simulated open-canopy reflectances","volume":"142","author":"Widlowski","year":"2014","journal-title":"Remote Sens. Environ."},{"key":"ref_15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"207","DOI":"10.1016\/j.agrformet.2003.08.004","article-title":"Two-dimensional solar radiation interception model for hedgerow fruit trees","volume":"121","author":"Annandale","year":"2004","journal-title":"Agric. For. Meteorol."},{"key":"ref_16","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"100","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ecolmodel.2014.02.016","article-title":"Forestmas\u2014A single tree based secondary succession model employing ellenberg indicator values","volume":"279","author":"Guid","year":"2014","journal-title":"Ecol. Model."},{"key":"ref_17","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"461","DOI":"10.1016\/j.agrformet.2010.12.003","article-title":"A three-dimensional light transfer model based on the vertical point-quadrant method and monte-carlo simulation in a fagus crenata forest canopy on mount naeba in japan","volume":"151","author":"Iio","year":"2011","journal-title":"Agric. For. Meteorol."},{"key":"ref_18","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"221","DOI":"10.1016\/j.rse.2013.01.013","article-title":"Rapid: A radiosity applicable to porous individual objects for directional reflectance over complex vegetated scenes","volume":"132","author":"Huang","year":"2013","journal-title":"Remote Sens. Environ."},{"key":"ref_19","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2101","DOI":"10.1093\/jxb\/erp345","article-title":"Functional\u2013structural plant modelling: A new versatile tool in crop science","volume":"61","author":"Vos","year":"2010","journal-title":"J. Exp. Bot."},{"key":"ref_20","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1013","DOI":"10.1093\/aob\/mcr199","article-title":"How good is the turbid medium-based approach for accounting for light partitioning in contrasted grass\u2013legume intercropping systems?","volume":"108","author":"Barillot","year":"2011","journal-title":"Ann. Bot."},{"key":"ref_21","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"75","DOI":"10.1016\/S0304-3800(98)00100-8","article-title":"The nested radiosity model for the distribution of light within plant canopies","volume":"111","author":"Chelle","year":"1998","journal-title":"Ecol. Model."},{"key":"ref_22","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Prusinkiewicz, A.L.P., Lindenmayer, A., Hanan, J.S., Fracchia, F.D., and Fowler, D. (1990). The Algorithmic Beauty of Plant, Springer.","DOI":"10.1007\/978-1-4613-8476-2"},{"key":"ref_23","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"151","DOI":"10.1145\/378456.378505","article-title":"Plant models faithful to botanical structure and development","volume":"22","author":"Edelin","year":"1988","journal-title":"ACM SIGGRAPG Comput. Graph."},{"key":"ref_24","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"56","DOI":"10.1109\/38.736469","article-title":"Interactive modeling of plants","volume":"19","author":"Lintermann","year":"1999","journal-title":"IEEE Comput. Graph. Appl."},{"key":"ref_25","first-page":"1799","article-title":"Interactive pruning operation on virtual tree base on color encoding","volume":"11","author":"Lin","year":"2011","journal-title":"J. Comput. Aided Des. Comput. Graph."},{"key":"ref_26","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"7015","DOI":"10.1007\/s12665-015-4763-2","article-title":"An integrated system for 3D tree modeling and growth simulation","volume":"74","author":"Tang","year":"2015","journal-title":"Environ. Earth Sci."},{"key":"ref_27","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Quan, L., Tan, P., Zeng, G., Yuan, L., Wang, J., and Kang, S.B. (2006). Image-Based Plant Modeling, ACM. ACM Transactions on Graphics (TOG).","DOI":"10.1145\/1179352.1141929"},{"key":"ref_28","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"337","DOI":"10.1093\/treephys\/26.3.337","article-title":"Three-dimensional reconstruction of partially 3D-digitized peach tree canopies","volume":"26","author":"Sonohat","year":"2006","journal-title":"Tree Physiol."},{"key":"ref_29","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1214","DOI":"10.1109\/TVCG.2014.2316001","article-title":"Data-driven synthetic modeling of trees","volume":"20","author":"Zhang","year":"2014","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Vis. Comput. Graph."},{"key":"ref_30","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"13","DOI":"10.1016\/0034-4257(91)90028-5","article-title":"The radiosity method in optical remote sensing of structured 3-D surfaces","volume":"36","author":"Borel","year":"1991","journal-title":"Remote Sens. Environ."},{"key":"ref_31","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"204","DOI":"10.1145\/636886.636890","article-title":"An efficient instantiation algorithm for simulating radiant energy transfer in plant models","volume":"22","author":"Soler","year":"2003","journal-title":"ACM Trans. Graph. (TOG)"},{"key":"ref_32","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"145","DOI":"10.1016\/S0034-4257(00)00129-2","article-title":"3-D scene modeling of semidesert vegetation cover and its radiation regime","volume":"74","author":"Qin","year":"2000","journal-title":"Remote Sens. Environ."},{"key":"ref_33","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"751","DOI":"10.1071\/FP08084","article-title":"Openalea: A visual programming and component-based software platform for plant modelling","volume":"35","author":"Pradal","year":"2008","journal-title":"Funct. Plant Biol."},{"key":"ref_34","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1016\/0168-1923(89)90002-6","article-title":"A review on the theory of photon transport in leaf canopies","volume":"45","author":"Myneni","year":"1989","journal-title":"Agric. For. Meteorol."},{"key":"ref_35","first-page":"838","article-title":"Modelling the 3D distribution of photosynthetically active radiation of direct solar radiation based on virtual plant canopy","volume":"39","author":"Zou","year":"2011","journal-title":"J. Fuzhou Univ."},{"key":"ref_36","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"60","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ecoinf.2015.09.012","article-title":"Light interception efficiency analysis based on three-dimensional peach canopy models","volume":"30","author":"Tang","year":"2015","journal-title":"Ecol. Inform."},{"key":"ref_37","first-page":"7","article-title":"Modelling the three dimensional distribution of direct solar radiation in maize canopy","volume":"25","author":"Wang","year":"2005","journal-title":"Acta Ecol. Sin."},{"key":"ref_38","first-page":"151","article-title":"Efficient model for computing the distribution of direct solar radiation in maize canopy at organ level","volume":"23","author":"Ma","year":"2007","journal-title":"Trans. CSAE"},{"key":"ref_39","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Tang, L., Chen, C., Zou, J., Lin, Y., Lin, D., and Li, J. (July, January 29). Ontoplant: An integrated virtual plant software package for different scale applications. Proceedings of the 2011 IEEE International Conference on Spatial Data Mining and Geographical Knowledge Services (ICSDM), Fuzhou, China.","DOI":"10.1109\/ICSDM.2011.5969053"},{"key":"ref_40","unstructured":"Ashdown, I. (1994). Radiosity: A Programmer\u2019s Perspective, John Wiley & Sons, Inc."},{"key":"ref_41","first-page":"8","article-title":"Calculation of astronomical parameters in solar energy","volume":"20","author":"Wang","year":"1999","journal-title":"Sol. Energy"},{"key":"ref_42","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1016\/0038-092X(60)90062-1","article-title":"The interrelationship and characteristic distribution of direct, diffuse and total solar radiation","volume":"4","author":"Liu","year":"1960","journal-title":"Sol. energy"},{"key":"ref_43","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Cohen, M.F., and Greenberg, D.P. (1985). The Hemi-Cube: A Radiosity Solution for Complex Environments. SIGGRAPH \u201985 Proceedings of the 12th Annual Conference on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques, ACM.","DOI":"10.1145\/325334.325171"},{"key":"ref_44","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Cohen, M.F., Chen, S.E., Wallace, J.R., and Greenberg, D.P. (1988). A Progressive Refinement Approach to Fast Radiosity Image Generation, ACM. ACM SIGGRAPH Computer Graphics.","DOI":"10.1145\/54852.378487"},{"key":"ref_45","unstructured":"Dulk, J.A.D. (1989). The Interpretation of Remote Sensing, a Feasibility Study. [Ph.D. Thesis, Wageningen University & Research]."},{"key":"ref_46","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1037","DOI":"10.5846\/stxb201012271850","article-title":"The simulation of leaf net photosynthtic rates in different radiation in apple canopy","volume":"32","author":"Gao","year":"2012","journal-title":"Acta Ecol. Sin."}],"container-title":["ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2220-9964\/6\/12\/405\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,11]],"date-time":"2025-10-11T18:54:32Z","timestamp":1760208872000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2220-9964\/6\/12\/405"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2017,12,19]]},"references-count":46,"journal-issue":{"issue":"12","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2017,12]]}},"alternative-id":["ijgi6120405"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/ijgi6120405","relation":{},"ISSN":["2220-9964"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2220-9964","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2017,12,19]]}}}