ABSTRACT
Mapping vegetation at different detail levels can document the changes of vegetation communities, types, and species to inform the progress and effects of restoration on the Everglades ecosystem. Several efforts have been made to automate vegetation mapping through digital image analysis. High spatial-resolution airborne hyperspectral imagery is powerful in vegetation characterization in the Everglades, but data collection is costly. High spatial-resolution aerial photography can provide important spatial information for vegetation discrimination, but limited spectral resolution constrains its application for heterogeneous regions with many vegetation types or species. The chapter discusses lidar, aerial photography, and Earth Observing-1/Hyperion data were combined to map detailed vegetation types/species in the coastal Everglades, where the ecosystem is different from in the central Everglades. A framework combining fine spatial resolution aerial photography, hyperspectral imagery with a moderate spatial resolution, and lidar data was developed to map more detailed vegetation types/species in the coastal Everglades.
