Fine identification of vegetation types in open pit mining regions using combined UAV RGB imagery and LiDAR point cloud data

Accurate vegetation type information is essential for the scientific assessment of ecological restoration in open pit mining areas. However, many existing mine-mapping studies tend to classify all vegetation into a single class, overlooking inter-species differentiation and thereby limiting the prec...

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Main Authors: Suling He, Yuncheng Deng, Jinliang Wang, Mengjia Luo
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Taylor & Francis Group 2025-08-01
Series:International Journal of Digital Earth
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Online Access:https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/17538947.2025.2515269
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author Suling He
Yuncheng Deng
Jinliang Wang
Mengjia Luo
author_facet Suling He
Yuncheng Deng
Jinliang Wang
Mengjia Luo
author_sort Suling He
collection DOAJ
description Accurate vegetation type information is essential for the scientific assessment of ecological restoration in open pit mining areas. However, many existing mine-mapping studies tend to classify all vegetation into a single class, overlooking inter-species differentiation and thereby limiting the precision of ecological evaluations. To address this issue, this study proposed a multi-scale hierarchical classification (MSHC) method for fine-scale mapping of vegetation types in open phosphate mining areas by combining unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) RGB remote sensing imagery and light detection and ranging (LiDAR) data with the support of object-oriented methods. The results showed that (1) The all features (AF) scheme achieved an overall accuracy (OA) of 97.04% and a Kappa coefficient of 0.98. (2) The proposed MSHC method reached an OA of 97.69% and a Kappa of 0.97. (3) The vegetation in the study area was predominantly grassland (approximately 29.57% of the total area), with Alnus nepalensis being the dominant tree species (16.07% of the area). Overall, this study provides a detailed classification of vegetation types, offering a valuable dataset for ecological monitoring and assessment. The proposed method also presents a transferable and effective approach for the fine-scale vegetation mapping of other open-pit mining environments.
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publishDate 2025-08-01
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spelling doaj-art-de43edc0c04544e6b16cc144fd665e8d2025-08-25T11:31:56ZengTaylor & Francis GroupInternational Journal of Digital Earth1753-89471753-89552025-08-0118110.1080/17538947.2025.2515269Fine identification of vegetation types in open pit mining regions using combined UAV RGB imagery and LiDAR point cloud dataSuling He0Yuncheng Deng1Jinliang Wang2Mengjia Luo3Faculty of Geography, Yunnan Normal University, Kunming, People’s Republic of ChinaFaculty of Geography, Yunnan Normal University, Kunming, People’s Republic of ChinaFaculty of Geography, Yunnan Normal University, Kunming, People’s Republic of ChinaFaculty of Geography, Yunnan Normal University, Kunming, People’s Republic of ChinaAccurate vegetation type information is essential for the scientific assessment of ecological restoration in open pit mining areas. However, many existing mine-mapping studies tend to classify all vegetation into a single class, overlooking inter-species differentiation and thereby limiting the precision of ecological evaluations. To address this issue, this study proposed a multi-scale hierarchical classification (MSHC) method for fine-scale mapping of vegetation types in open phosphate mining areas by combining unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) RGB remote sensing imagery and light detection and ranging (LiDAR) data with the support of object-oriented methods. The results showed that (1) The all features (AF) scheme achieved an overall accuracy (OA) of 97.04% and a Kappa coefficient of 0.98. (2) The proposed MSHC method reached an OA of 97.69% and a Kappa of 0.97. (3) The vegetation in the study area was predominantly grassland (approximately 29.57% of the total area), with Alnus nepalensis being the dominant tree species (16.07% of the area). Overall, this study provides a detailed classification of vegetation types, offering a valuable dataset for ecological monitoring and assessment. The proposed method also presents a transferable and effective approach for the fine-scale vegetation mapping of other open-pit mining environments.https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/17538947.2025.2515269Multi-source datamachine learningclassification of tree speciesmulti-scale hierarchical classificationvegetation patterns
spellingShingle Suling He
Yuncheng Deng
Jinliang Wang
Mengjia Luo
Fine identification of vegetation types in open pit mining regions using combined UAV RGB imagery and LiDAR point cloud data
International Journal of Digital Earth
Multi-source data
machine learning
classification of tree species
multi-scale hierarchical classification
vegetation patterns
title Fine identification of vegetation types in open pit mining regions using combined UAV RGB imagery and LiDAR point cloud data
title_full Fine identification of vegetation types in open pit mining regions using combined UAV RGB imagery and LiDAR point cloud data
title_fullStr Fine identification of vegetation types in open pit mining regions using combined UAV RGB imagery and LiDAR point cloud data
title_full_unstemmed Fine identification of vegetation types in open pit mining regions using combined UAV RGB imagery and LiDAR point cloud data
title_short Fine identification of vegetation types in open pit mining regions using combined UAV RGB imagery and LiDAR point cloud data
title_sort fine identification of vegetation types in open pit mining regions using combined uav rgb imagery and lidar point cloud data
topic Multi-source data
machine learning
classification of tree species
multi-scale hierarchical classification
vegetation patterns
url https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/17538947.2025.2515269
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AT yunchengdeng fineidentificationofvegetationtypesinopenpitminingregionsusingcombineduavrgbimageryandlidarpointclouddata
AT jinliangwang fineidentificationofvegetationtypesinopenpitminingregionsusingcombineduavrgbimageryandlidarpointclouddata
AT mengjialuo fineidentificationofvegetationtypesinopenpitminingregionsusingcombineduavrgbimageryandlidarpointclouddata