{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,1]],"date-time":"2026-04-01T23:55:54Z","timestamp":1775087754160,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":46,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"10","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2019,5,23]],"date-time":"2019-05-23T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1558569600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"National Key R&amp;D Program of China","award":["2017YFA0603002"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2017YFA0603002"]}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100012166","name":"National Basic Research Program of China","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["2013CB733401"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2013CB733401"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100012166","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001809","name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["41471311, 41371357, 41301395"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["41471311, 41371357, 41301395"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001809","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Remote Sensing"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Spaceborne stereoscopic systems have been growing in recent years, and the point cloud extracted from spaceborne stereo imagery has been used to measure forest spatial structures. These systems work on different viewing angles and image spatial resolutions, which are two critical factors determining the quality of the derived point cloud. In addition, the complex terrain is also a great challenge for the regional mapping of forest spatial structures using spaceborne stereo imagery. Although several theoretical models for simulating multi-view spectral features of forest canopies have been developed, there is hardly any report of a stereoscopic analysis using these models due to the limited size of the simulated forest scenes and the lack of a geometric sensory model (i.e., physical relationship between two-dimensional image coordinates and three-dimensional georeferenced coordinates). The stereoscopic features (i.e., parallax) are, as important as the spectral features contained in the multi-view images of a targeted area, the basis for the extraction of a point cloud. In this study, a new model, referred to as LandStereo model, has been proposed, which is capable of simulating the stereoscopic features of forest canopies over mountainous areas at landscape scales. The model comprised five parts, including defining the mountainous forest landscapes, setting the sun-senor observation geometry, simulating images, generating ground control points, and building geometric sensor models. The LandStereo model was validated over three different scenes, including flat forest landscapes, bare mountain landscapes, and mountainous forest landscapes. The results clearly demonstrated that the LandStereo model worked well on simulating stereoscopic features of both terrains and forest canopies at landscape scales. The extracted height of a forest canopy top from simulated stereo imagery was highly correlated to the truth (R2 = 0.96 and RMSE = 0.99 m) over the flat terrains and (R2 = 0.92 and RMSE = 1.15 m) over the mountainous areas. The LandStereo model provided a powerful tool to further our understanding of the relationships between forest spatial structures and point cloud extracted from stereo imagery acquired from different view angles and spatial resolutions under complex terrain conditions.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/rs11101222","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2019,5,24]],"date-time":"2019-05-24T02:22:00Z","timestamp":1558664520000},"page":"1222","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":13,"title":["Modeling the Stereoscopic Features of Mountainous Forest Landscapes for the Extraction of Forest Heights from Stereo Imagery"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"11","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1611-4582","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Wenjian","family":"Ni","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing Science, Institute of Remote Sensing and Digital Earth, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China"}]},{"given":"Zhiyu","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing Science, Institute of Remote Sensing and Digital Earth, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China"}]},{"given":"Guoqing","family":"Sun","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Geographical Sciences, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20740 USA"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3713-9511","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Qinhuo","family":"Liu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing Science, Institute of Remote Sensing and Digital Earth, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2019,5,23]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"258","DOI":"10.1126\/science.1260947","article-title":"Linked canopy, climate, and faunal change in the cenozoic of patagonia","volume":"347","author":"Dunn","year":"2015","journal-title":"Science"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1452","DOI":"10.1126\/science.1155359","article-title":"Predictive models of forest dynamics","volume":"320","author":"Purves","year":"2008","journal-title":"Science"},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2753","DOI":"10.1016\/j.rse.2011.01.024","article-title":"Characterizing 3d vegetation structure from space: Mission requirements","volume":"115","author":"Hall","year":"2011","journal-title":"Remote Sens. Environ."},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"253","DOI":"10.1016\/j.rse.2016.10.018","article-title":"Combining tandem-x insar and simulated gedi lidar observations for forest structure mapping","volume":"187","author":"Qi","year":"2016","journal-title":"Remote Sens. Environ."},{"key":"ref_5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2850","DOI":"10.1016\/j.rse.2011.03.020","article-title":"The biomass mission: Mapping global forest biomass to better understand the terrestrial carbon cycle","volume":"115","author":"Quegan","year":"2011","journal-title":"Remote Sens. Environ."},{"key":"ref_6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"154","DOI":"10.1016\/j.rse.2017.05.003","article-title":"Coverage of high biomass forests by the esa biomass mission under defense restrictions","volume":"196","author":"Carreiras","year":"2017","journal-title":"Remote Sens. Environ."},{"key":"ref_7","unstructured":"Slater, J.A., Heady, B., Kroenung, G., Curtis, W., Haase, J., Hoegemann, D., Shockley, C., and Tracy, K. (2009). Evaluation of the New Aster Global Digital Elevation Model, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency."},{"key":"ref_8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2443","DOI":"10.1016\/j.rse.2007.11.004","article-title":"Spot5-hrs digital elevation models and the monitoring of glacier elevation changes in north-west canada and south-east alaska","volume":"112","author":"Berthier","year":"2008","journal-title":"Remote Sens. Environ."},{"key":"ref_9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"4042","DOI":"10.1109\/TGRS.2009.2025270","article-title":"Calibration of prism and avnir-2 onboard alos \u201cdaichi\u201d","volume":"47","author":"Tadono","year":"2009","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"198","DOI":"10.1080\/17538947.2013.861025","article-title":"Characterization of aster gdem elevation data over vegetated area compared with lidar data","volume":"8","author":"Ni","year":"2015","journal-title":"Int. J. Digit. Earth"},{"key":"ref_11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1277","DOI":"10.1080\/01431160701736505","article-title":"Mapping the height and above-ground biomass of a mixed forest using lidar and stereo ikonos images","volume":"29","author":"Hu","year":"2008","journal-title":"Int. J. Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1762","DOI":"10.3390\/rs6031762","article-title":"Deciphering the precision of stereo ikonos canopy height models for us forests with g-liht airborne lidar","volume":"6","author":"Neigh","year":"2014","journal-title":"Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"76","DOI":"10.1016\/j.rse.2017.04.024","article-title":"The use of sun elevation angle for stereogrammetric boreal forest height in open canopies","volume":"196","author":"Montesano","year":"2017","journal-title":"Remote Sens. Environ."},{"key":"ref_14","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"47","DOI":"10.1016\/j.rse.2014.04.001","article-title":"Features of point clouds synthesized from multi-view alos\/prism data and comparisons with lidar data in forested areas","volume":"149","author":"Ni","year":"2014","journal-title":"Remote Sens.Environ."},{"key":"ref_15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"13895","DOI":"10.3390\/rs71013895","article-title":"Optimal altitude, overlap, and weather conditions for computer vision uav estimates of forest structure","volume":"7","author":"Dandois","year":"2015","journal-title":"Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_16","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"3725","DOI":"10.1109\/TGRS.2012.2187300","article-title":"Technical methodology for aster global dem","volume":"50","author":"Fujisada","year":"2012","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_17","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Wallerman, J., Fransson, J.E.S., Bohlin, J., Reese, H., and Olsson, H. (2010, January 25\u201330). Forest mapping using 3d data from spot-5 hrs and z\/i dmc. Proceedings of the IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium, Honolulu, HI, USA.","DOI":"10.1109\/IGARSS.2010.5653818"},{"key":"ref_18","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"323","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1477-9730.2008.00493.x","article-title":"Orientation and self-calibration of alos prism imagery","volume":"23","author":"Kocaman","year":"2008","journal-title":"Photogramm. Rec."},{"key":"ref_19","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Imai, H., Katayama, H., Sagisaka, M., Hatooka, Y., Suzuki, S., Osawa, Y., Takahashi, M., and Tadono, T. (2012). A conceptual design of prism-2 for advanced land observing satellite-3(alos-3). SPIE Remote Sens.","DOI":"10.1117\/12.974780"},{"key":"ref_20","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"335","DOI":"10.14358\/PERS.77.4.335","article-title":"Global assessment of the new aster global digital elevation model","volume":"77","author":"Slater","year":"2011","journal-title":"Photogramm. Eng. Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_21","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"906","DOI":"10.1109\/TGRS.1986.289706","article-title":"Geometric-optical bidirectional reflectance modeling of a conifer forest canopy","volume":"24","author":"Li","year":"1986","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_22","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1316","DOI":"10.1109\/36.628798","article-title":"A four-scale bidirectional reflectance model based on canopy architecture","volume":"35","author":"Chen","year":"1997","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_23","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_24","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"987","DOI":"10.1109\/36.752217","article-title":"An analytical hybrid gort model for bidirectional reflectance over discontinuous plant canopies","volume":"37","author":"Ni","year":"1999","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_25","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"73","DOI":"10.1080\/0143116031000115166","article-title":"Dart: A 3d model for simulating satellite images and studying surface radiation budget","volume":"25","author":"Martin","year":"2004","journal-title":"Int. J. Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_26","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_27","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"695","DOI":"10.1016\/j.rse.2018.11.036","article-title":"Less: Large-scale remote sensing data and image simulation framework over heterogeneous 3d scenes","volume":"221","author":"Qi","year":"2019","journal-title":"Remote Sens. Environ."},{"key":"ref_28","first-page":"16","article-title":"Ray-tracing and pov-ray","volume":"19","author":"Farmer","year":"1994","journal-title":"Dr Dobbs J."},{"key":"ref_29","unstructured":"Mackay, D. (2019, May 22). Generating Synthetic Stereo Pairs and a Depth Map with Povray. Available online: http:\/\/cradpdf.drdc-rddc.gc.ca\/PDFS\/unc57\/p527215.pdf."},{"key":"ref_30","unstructured":"Plachetka, T. (1998). Pov Ray: Persistence of Vision Parallel Raytracer. Spring Conference on Computer Graphics, Comenius University."},{"key":"ref_31","unstructured":"POV-Tam (2019, May 22). Persistence of Vision Ray-Tracer Version 3.7 User\u2019s Documentation. Available online: http:\/\/www.povray.org\/documentation\/3.7.0\/."},{"key":"ref_32","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"414","DOI":"10.1016\/j.rse.2005.08.005","article-title":"Lai retrieval from multiangular image classification and inversion of a ray tracing model","volume":"98","author":"Casa","year":"2005","journal-title":"Remote Sens.Environ."},{"key":"ref_33","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"574","DOI":"10.1109\/LGRS.2013.2282492","article-title":"Directional anisotropy of brightness surface temperature over vineyards: Case study over the medoc region (sw france)","volume":"11","author":"Lagouarde","year":"2014","journal-title":"IEEE Geosci. Remote Sens. Lett."},{"key":"ref_34","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"87","DOI":"10.1016\/j.rse.2009.08.012","article-title":"Modelling daytime thermal infrared directional anisotropy over toulouse city centre","volume":"114","author":"Lagouarde","year":"2010","journal-title":"Remote Sens. Environ."},{"key":"ref_35","unstructured":"Hormann, C. (2013). landscape.pov, In Persistence Of Vision Ray Tracer, Persistence of Vision Raytracer Pty. Ltd., Place."},{"key":"ref_36","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"963","DOI":"10.1109\/34.615446","article-title":"Linear pushbroom cameras","volume":"19","author":"Gupta","year":"1997","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Pattern Anal. Mach. Intell."},{"key":"ref_37","first-page":"1347","article-title":"A comprehensive study of the rational function model for photogrammetric processing","volume":"67","author":"Tao","year":"2001","journal-title":"Photogramm. Eng. Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_38","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"372","DOI":"10.1109\/TGRS.1995.8746018","article-title":"A three-dimensional radar backscatter model of forest canopies","volume":"33","author":"Sun","year":"1995","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_39","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"182","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ecolmodel.2015.09.016","article-title":"Sibbork: A new spatially-explicit gap model for boreal forest","volume":"320","author":"Brazhnik","year":"2016","journal-title":"Ecol. Model."},{"key":"ref_40","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"70","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ecolmodel.2012.03.014","article-title":"Gap model development, validation, and application to succession of secondary subtropical dry forests of puerto rico","volume":"233","author":"Holm","year":"2012","journal-title":"Ecol. Model."},{"key":"ref_41","unstructured":"Min, F.A. (2008). Mapping Biomass and Its Dynamic Changes Analysis in the Boreal Forest of Northeastern Asia From Multi-Sensor Synergy, Graduate University of Chinese Academy Sciences."},{"key":"ref_42","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1087","DOI":"10.1007\/s00371-016-1264-6","article-title":"Local stereo matching algorithm with efficient matching cost and adaptive guided image filter","volume":"33","author":"Zhu","year":"2017","journal-title":"Vis. Comput."},{"key":"ref_43","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"323","DOI":"10.14358\/PERS.75.3.323","article-title":"Optimization of stereo-matching algorithms using existing dem data","volume":"75","author":"Milledge","year":"2009","journal-title":"Photogramm. Eng. Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_44","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1168","DOI":"10.1109\/LGRS.2013.2288918","article-title":"Geometric accuracy validation for zy-3 satellite imagery","volume":"11","author":"Wang","year":"2014","journal-title":"IEEE Geosci. Remote Sens. Lett."},{"key":"ref_45","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"695","DOI":"10.14358\/PERS.70.6.695","article-title":"Dtm generation from ikonos in-track stereo images using a 3d physical model","volume":"70","author":"Toutin","year":"2004","journal-title":"Photogramm. Eng. Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_46","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"224","DOI":"10.1109\/TGRS.2013.2237781","article-title":"On-orbit geometric calibration of zy-3 three-line array imagery with multistrip data sets","volume":"52","author":"Zhang","year":"2014","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote Sens."}],"container-title":["Remote Sensing"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2072-4292\/11\/10\/1222\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,11]],"date-time":"2025-10-11T12:54:31Z","timestamp":1760187271000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2072-4292\/11\/10\/1222"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2019,5,23]]},"references-count":46,"journal-issue":{"issue":"10","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2019,5]]}},"alternative-id":["rs11101222"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/rs11101222","relation":{},"ISSN":["2072-4292"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2072-4292","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2019,5,23]]}}}