{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,11]],"date-time":"2025-10-11T15:44:52Z","timestamp":1760197492306,"version":"build-2065373602"},"reference-count":65,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"7","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2018,6,25]],"date-time":"2018-06-25T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1529884800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100000266","name":"Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["13330004"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["13330004"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100000266","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Remote Sensing"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Recent legislative approaches to improve the quality of rivers have resulted in the design and implementation of extensive and intensive monitoring programmes that are costly and time consuming. An important component of assessing the ecological status of a water body as required by the Water Framework Directive is characterising the hydromorphology. Recent advances in autonomous operation and the spatial coverage of monitoring systems enables more rapid 3D models of the river environment to be produced. This study presents a Structure from Motion (SfM) semi-autonomous based framework for the estimation of key reach hydromorphological measures such as water surface area, wetted water width, bank height, bank slope and bank-full width, using in-channel stereo-imagery. The framework relies on a stereo-camera that could be positioned on an autonomous boat. The proposed approach is demonstrated along three 40 m long reaches with differing hydromorphological characteristics. Results indicated that optimal stereo-camera settings need to be selected based on the river appearance. Results also indicated that the characteristics of the reach have an impact on the estimation of the hydromorphological measures; densely vegetated banks, presence of debris and sinuosity along the reach increased the overall error in hydromorphological measure estimation. The results obtained highlight a potential way forward towards the autonomous monitoring of freshwater ecosystems.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/rs10071005","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2018,6,25]],"date-time":"2018-06-25T11:03:25Z","timestamp":1529924605000},"page":"1005","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":3,"title":["In-Channel 3D Models of Riverine Environments for Hydromorphological Characterization"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"10","author":[{"given":"Jan","family":"Vandrol","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Water, Energy and Environment, Cranfield University, Cranfield MK43 0AL, UK"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4169-3099","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Monica","family":"Rivas Casado","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Water, Energy and Environment, Cranfield University, Cranfield MK43 0AL, UK"}]},{"given":"Kim","family":"Blackburn","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Water, Energy and Environment, Cranfield University, Cranfield MK43 0AL, UK"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4954-3618","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Toby W.","family":"Waine","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Water, Energy and Environment, Cranfield University, Cranfield MK43 0AL, UK"}]},{"given":"Paul","family":"Leinster","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Water, Energy and Environment, Cranfield University, Cranfield MK43 0AL, UK"}]},{"given":"Ros","family":"Wright","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"National Fisheries Services, Environment Agency, Threshelfords Business Park, Inworth Road, Feering, Essex CO61UD, UK"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2018,6,25]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"113","DOI":"10.4491\/eer.2011.16.3.113","article-title":"Rubbish, stink, and death: The historical evolution, present state, and future direction of water-quality management and modeling","volume":"16","author":"Chapra","year":"2011","journal-title":"Environ. Eng. Res."},{"key":"ref_2","unstructured":"Australian and New Zealand Environment Conservation Council (2000). National Water Quality Management Strategy: Australian Water Quality Guidelines for Fresh and Marine Waters."},{"key":"ref_3","unstructured":"U.S. Environment Protection Agency (2006). Clean Water Act. Federal Water Act. of 1972 (Codified as Amended at 33 U.S.C.)."},{"key":"ref_4","unstructured":"European Commission (2000). Directive 2000\/60\/EC of the European parliament and of the council of 23 October 2000 establishing a framework for community action in the field of water policy. Off. J. Eur. Union, L327, 1\u201327."},{"key":"ref_5","unstructured":"Raven, P.J., Holmes, N.T.H., Dawson, F.H., Fox, P.J.A., Everard, M., Fozzaed, I.R., and Rouen, K.J. (1998). River Habitat Survey The Physical Character of Rivers and Streams in The UK and Isle of Man, The Environment Agency."},{"key":"ref_6","unstructured":"Wright, J.F., Sutcliffe, D.W., and Furse, M.T. (2000). Assessing the biological quality of fresh waters. Freshw. Biol. Assoc., 1\u201324."},{"key":"ref_7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"199","DOI":"10.1016\/j.limno.2009.10.001","article-title":"Multimetric macroinvertebrate index flanders (MMIF) for biological assessment of rivers and lakes in flanders (Belgium)","volume":"40","author":"Gabriels","year":"2010","journal-title":"Limnologica"},{"key":"ref_8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"47","DOI":"10.1002\/esp.3613","article-title":"Quantifying submerged fluvial topography using hyperspatial resolution UAS imagery and structure from motion photogrammetry","volume":"40","author":"Woodget","year":"2015","journal-title":"Earth Surf. Process. Landforms"},{"key":"ref_9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"27969","DOI":"10.3390\/s151127969","article-title":"Automated identification of river hydromorphological features using UAV high resolution aerial imagery","volume":"15","author":"Kriechbaumer","year":"2015","journal-title":"Sensors"},{"key":"ref_10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"31869","DOI":"10.3390\/s151229892","article-title":"Quantitative evaluation of stereo visual odometry for autonomous vessel localisation in inland waterway sensing applications","volume":"15","author":"Kriechbaumer","year":"2015","journal-title":"Sensors"},{"key":"ref_11","first-page":"nh2015095","article-title":"Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler measurements near a weir with fish pass: Assessing solutions to compass errors, spatial data referencing and spatial flow heterogeneity","volume":"47","author":"Kriechbaumer","year":"2015","journal-title":"Hydrol. Res."},{"key":"ref_12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"545","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-319-23778-7_36","article-title":"Towards autonomous lakeshore monitoring","volume":"109","author":"Hsieh","year":"2016","journal-title":"Experimental Robotics"},{"key":"ref_13","unstructured":"Dunbabin, M., Grinham, A., and Udy, J. (2009, January 2\u20134). An autonomous surface vehicle for water quality monitoring. Proceedings of the Proceedings of the 2009 Australasian Conference on Robotics and Automation, Sydney, Australia."},{"key":"ref_14","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Rivas Casado, M., Ballesteros Gonzalez, R., Wright, R., and Bellamy, P. (2016). Quantifying the effect of aerial imagery resolution in automated hydromorphological river characterisation. Remote Sens., 8.","DOI":"10.3390\/rs8080650"},{"key":"ref_15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"421","DOI":"10.1002\/esp.3366","article-title":"Topographic structure from motion: A new development in photogrammetric measurement","volume":"38","author":"Fonstad","year":"2013","journal-title":"Earth Surf. Process. Landforms"},{"key":"ref_16","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"300","DOI":"10.1016\/j.geomorph.2012.08.021","article-title":"Structure-from-Motion\u2019 photogrammetry: A low-cost, effective tool for geoscience applications","volume":"179","author":"Westoby","year":"2012","journal-title":"Geomorphology"},{"key":"ref_17","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"795","DOI":"10.1080\/01431160110113070","article-title":"Remote survey of large-scale braided, gravel-bed rivers using digital photogrammetry and image analysis","volume":"24","author":"Westaway","year":"2003","journal-title":"Int. J. Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_18","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"195","DOI":"10.1016\/j.geomorph.2016.11.009","article-title":"An evaluation of the effectiveness of low-cost UAVs and structure from motion for geomorphic change detection","volume":"278","author":"Cook","year":"2017","journal-title":"Geomorphology"},{"key":"ref_19","unstructured":"Armistead, C.C. (2013). Applications of Structure from Motion Photogrammetry to River Channel Change Studies, Boston College."},{"key":"ref_20","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1217","DOI":"10.1002\/(SICI)1096-9837(199724)22:13<1217::AID-ESP819>3.0.CO;2-U","article-title":"Use of terrestrial photogrammetry for monitoring and measuring bank erosion","volume":"22","author":"Barker","year":"1997","journal-title":"Earth Surf. Process. Landforms"},{"key":"ref_21","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2079","DOI":"10.1007\/s12665-014-3558-1","article-title":"A review of assessment methods for river hydromorphology","volume":"73","author":"Belletti","year":"2014","journal-title":"Environ. Earth Sci."},{"key":"ref_22","unstructured":"Micheletti, N., Chandler, J.H., and Lane, S.N. (2015). Structure from Motion (SfM) Photogrammetry, British Society for Geomorphology."},{"key":"ref_23","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"753","DOI":"10.1111\/0031-868X.00083","article-title":"Digital photogrammetry monitoring of river bank Erosion","volume":"15","author":"Pyle","year":"1997","journal-title":"Photogramm. Rec."},{"key":"ref_24","unstructured":"Chandler, J., Wackrow, R., and Sun, X. (2008). Measuring a dynamic and flooding river surface by close range digital photogrammetry. Int. Soc. Photogramm. Remote Sens., 211\u2013216."},{"key":"ref_25","unstructured":"Willen, O. (2017, December 04). Home GaugeMap. Available online: http:\/\/www.gaugemap.co.uk\/#!Map\/Summary\/1580\/1725\/2017-09-24\/2017-09-25."},{"key":"ref_26","unstructured":"Haversham, O. (2017, December 04). Details GaugeMap. Available online: http:\/\/www.gaugemap.co.uk\/#!Detail\/1587."},{"key":"ref_27","unstructured":"Ghosh, S.K. (1988). Analytical Photogrammetry, Pergamon Press."},{"key":"ref_28","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"871","DOI":"10.1061\/(ASCE)0733-9429(2001)127:10(871)","article-title":"Monitoring river channel and flume surfaces with digital photogrammetry","volume":"127","author":"Lane","year":"2001","journal-title":"J. Hydraul. Eng."},{"key":"ref_29","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1561\/0600000052","article-title":"Multi-View Stereo: A Tutorial","volume":"9","author":"Furukawa","year":"2015","journal-title":"Found. Trends\u00ae Comput. Graph. Vis."},{"key":"ref_30","unstructured":"(2018, May 04). Camera Calibration Toolbox for Matlab. Available online: http:\/\/www.vision.caltech.edu\/bouguetj\/calib_doc\/."},{"key":"ref_31","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"6","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1477-9730.2008.00467.x","article-title":"A convergent image configuration for DEM extraction that minimises the systematic effects caused by an inaccurate lens model","volume":"23","author":"Wackrow","year":"2008","journal-title":"Photogramm. Rec."},{"key":"ref_32","unstructured":"(2018, June 09). Leica Viva TS15\u2014Your Vision: The Fastest Imaging Total Station\u2014Leica Geosystems\u2014HDS. Available online: https:\/\/hds.leica-geosystems.com\/en\/Leica-Viva-TS15_86198.htm."},{"key":"ref_33","unstructured":"(2018, June 22). Leica ScanStation P40\/P30 User Manual. Available online: http:\/\/surveyequipment.com\/assets\/index\/download\/id\/457\/."},{"key":"ref_34","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"985","DOI":"10.1002\/rra.1198","article-title":"Accuracy assessment of aerial photographs acquired using lighter-than-air blimps: LOW-cost tools for mapping river corridors","volume":"25","author":"Vericat","year":"2009","journal-title":"River Res. Appl."},{"key":"ref_35","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"166","DOI":"10.1016\/j.geomorph.2014.01.006","article-title":"Modeling the topography of shallow braided rivers using Structure-from-Motion photogrammetry","volume":"213","author":"Javernick","year":"2014","journal-title":"Geomorphology"},{"key":"ref_36","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"473","DOI":"10.1002\/esp.3648","article-title":"Investigating the geomorphological potential of freely available and accessible structure-from-motion photogrammetry using a smartphone","volume":"40","author":"Micheletti","year":"2015","journal-title":"Earth Surf. Process. Landforms"},{"key":"ref_37","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1143","DOI":"10.1016\/j.autcon.2011.04.016","article-title":"Evaluation of image-based modeling and laser scanning accuracy for emerging automated performance monitoring techniques","volume":"20","author":"Bohn","year":"2011","journal-title":"Autom. Constr."},{"key":"ref_38","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"91","DOI":"10.1023\/B:VISI.0000029664.99615.94","article-title":"Distinctive image features from scale-invariant keypoints","volume":"60","author":"Lowe","year":"2004","journal-title":"Int. J. Comput. Vis."},{"key":"ref_39","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"243","DOI":"10.1061\/(ASCE)1084-0699(2005)10:3(243)","article-title":"Geospatial representation of river channels","volume":"10","author":"Merwade","year":"2005","journal-title":"J. Hydrol. Eng."},{"key":"ref_40","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1300","DOI":"10.1016\/j.envsoft.2008.03.005","article-title":"GIS techniques for creating river terrain models for hydrodynamic modeling and flood inundation mapping","volume":"23","author":"Merwade","year":"2008","journal-title":"Environ. Model. Softw."},{"key":"ref_41","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"244","DOI":"10.1016\/S0146-664X(72)80017-0","article-title":"An iterative procedure for the polygonal approximation of plane curves","volume":"1","author":"Ramer","year":"1972","journal-title":"Comput. Graph. Image Process."},{"key":"ref_42","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"307","DOI":"10.7763\/IJCEE.2012.V4.501","article-title":"Smoothing via iterative averaging (SIA). A basic technique for line smoothing","volume":"4","author":"Monsouryar","year":"2012","journal-title":"Int. J. Comput. Electr. Eng."},{"key":"ref_43","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"10","DOI":"10.1016\/j.isprsjprs.2013.04.009","article-title":"Accurate 3D comparison of complex topography with terrestrial laser scanner: Application to the Rangitikei canyon (N-Z)","volume":"82","author":"Lague","year":"2013","journal-title":"ISPRS J. Photogramm. Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_44","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1029\/2011JF002289","article-title":"Straightforward reconstruction of 3D surfaces and topography with a camera: Accuracy and geoscience application","volume":"117","author":"James","year":"2012","journal-title":"J. Geophys. Res. Earth Surf."},{"key":"ref_45","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1573","DOI":"10.3390\/rs4061573","article-title":"Assessing the accuracy of georeferenced point clouds produced via multi-view stereopsis from unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) imagery","volume":"4","author":"Harwin","year":"2012","journal-title":"Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_46","first-page":"1","article-title":"Assessment of UAV-photogrammetric mapping accuracy based on variation of ground control points","volume":"72","year":"2018","journal-title":"Int. J. Appl. Earth Obs. Geoinform."},{"key":"ref_47","first-page":"91","article-title":"Effect of the sampling design of ground control points on the geometric correction of remotely sensed imagery","volume":"18","author":"Wang","year":"2012","journal-title":"Int. J. Appl. Earth Obs. Geoinform."},{"key":"ref_48","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"221","DOI":"10.1016\/j.measurement.2016.12.002","article-title":"Assessment of photogrammetric mapping accuracy based on variation ground control points number using unmanned aerial vehicle","volume":"98","year":"2017","journal-title":"Measurement"},{"key":"ref_49","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"31869","DOI":"10.3390\/s151229892","article-title":"Quantitative evaluation of stereo visual odometry for autonomous vessel localisation in inland waterway sensing applications","volume":"15","author":"Kriechbaumer","year":"2015","journal-title":"Sensors"},{"key":"ref_50","unstructured":"Recker, S., Shashkov, M.M., Hess-Flores, M., Gribble, C., Baltrusch, R., Butkiewicz, M.A., and Joy, K.I. (2018, April 29). Hybrid Photogrammetry Structure-from-Motion Systems for Scene Measurement and Analysis\u2014Semantic Scholar. Available online: https:\/\/www.semanticscholar.org\/paper\/Hybrid-Photogrammetry-Structure-from-Motion-Systems-Recker-Shashkov\/6ca21d293ae705cee12ebe5485987612ae18abb7."},{"key":"ref_51","unstructured":"Hildebrandt, M. (2013). Development, Evaluation and Validation of a Stereo Camera Underwater SLAM Algorithm. [Ph.D Thesis, University of Bremen]."},{"key":"ref_52","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Chambers, A., Achar, S., Nuske, S., Rehder, J., Kitt, B., Chamberlain, L., Haines, J., Scherer, S., and Singh, S. (2011, January 25\u201330). Perception for a river mapping robot. Proceedings of the IEEE\/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, San Francisco, CA, USA.","DOI":"10.1109\/IROS.2011.6095040"},{"key":"ref_53","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"343","DOI":"10.1007\/s11263-007-0042-3","article-title":"Vision-based SLAM: Stereo and monocular approaches","volume":"74","author":"Lemaire","year":"2007","journal-title":"Int. J. Comput. Vis."},{"key":"ref_54","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Hamilton, O.K., Breckon, T.P., Bai, X., and Kamata, S. (2013, January 15\u201318). A foreground object based quantitative assessment of dense stereo approaches for use in automotive environments. Proceedings of the 2013 IEEE International Conference on Image Processing, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.","DOI":"10.1109\/ICIP.2013.6738086"},{"key":"ref_55","unstructured":"(2018, May 09). FLIR Integrated Imaging Solutions Bumblebee2 and XB3 Datasheet. Available online: https:\/\/www.ptgrey.com\/support\/downloads\/10132."},{"key":"ref_56","unstructured":"Chang, C., and Chatterjee, S. (1992, January 26\u201328). Quantization error analysis in stereo vision. Proceedings of the [1992] Conference Record of the Twenty-Sixth Asilomar Conference on Signals, Systems & Computers, Pacific Grove, CA, USA."},{"key":"ref_57","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"308","DOI":"10.1016\/j.biosystemseng.2016.09.014","article-title":"Approximate georeferencing and automatic blurred image detection to reduce the costs of UAV use in environmental and agricultural applications","volume":"151","author":"Ballesteros","year":"2016","journal-title":"Biosyst. Eng."},{"key":"ref_58","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1016\/j.isprsjprs.2016.09.010","article-title":"Automatic detection of blurred images in UAV image sets","volume":"122","author":"Sieberth","year":"2016","journal-title":"ISPRS J. Photogramm. Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_59","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Tsomko, E., and Kim, H.J. (2008, January 7\u20139). Efficient method of detecting globally blurry or sharp images. Proceedings of the 2008 Ninth International Workshop on Image Analysis for Multimedia Interactive Services, Klagenfurt, Austria.","DOI":"10.1109\/WIAMIS.2008.28"},{"key":"ref_60","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"302","DOI":"10.1049\/iet-ipr.2009.0001","article-title":"Linear Gaussian blur evolution for detection of blurry images","volume":"4","author":"Tsomko","year":"2010","journal-title":"IET Image Process."},{"key":"ref_61","unstructured":"Tong, H., Li, M., Zhang, H., and Zhang, C. (2004, January 27\u201330). Blur detection for digital images using wavelet transform. Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Multimedia and Expo (ICME). Taipei, China."},{"key":"ref_62","first-page":"381","article-title":"Random sample consensus: A paradigm for model fitting with apphcatlons to Image analysis and automated cartography","volume":"24","author":"Fischler","year":"1981","journal-title":"Graph. Image Process."},{"key":"ref_63","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"265","DOI":"10.1016\/j.robot.2011.02.011","article-title":"Plant detection and mapping for agricultural robots using a 3D LIDAR sensor","volume":"59","author":"Weiss","year":"2011","journal-title":"Rob. Auton. Syst."},{"key":"ref_64","unstructured":"(2017, December 21). ROS\u2014Getting Started. Available online: https:\/\/www.stereolabs.com\/documentation\/integrations\/ros\/getting-started.html."},{"key":"ref_65","unstructured":"(2017, December 21). Using the ZED Camera with ROS Stereolabs. Available online: https:\/\/www.stereolabs.com\/blog\/use-your-zed-camera-with-ros\/."}],"container-title":["Remote Sensing"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2072-4292\/10\/7\/1005\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,11]],"date-time":"2025-10-11T15:09:59Z","timestamp":1760195399000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2072-4292\/10\/7\/1005"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2018,6,25]]},"references-count":65,"journal-issue":{"issue":"7","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2018,7]]}},"alternative-id":["rs10071005"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/rs10071005","relation":{},"ISSN":["2072-4292"],"issn-type":[{"type":"electronic","value":"2072-4292"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2018,6,25]]}}}