Canopy Footprint (Relative) — Algorithm Notes

Related user page: Canopy Footprint (Relative)

Purpose

Generate corridor polygons with thresholds adapted to local conditions for each centerline.

Inputs and outputs

• Inputs: centerline vector, CHM/cost raster, relative-threshold controls
• Output: canopy footprint polygons

Method summary

1. Build local corridor/cost representation per line.
2. Estimate line-specific threshold characteristics.
3. Apply relative/adaptive thresholding to extract candidate footprint.
4. Convert raster mask to polygons and clean outputs.
5. Write final footprint layer.

Assumptions

• Local raster response contains enough signal to derive useful adaptive thresholds.
• Centerline quality is sufficient to anchor corridor extraction.

Edge cases

• Noisy local windows can destabilize adaptive thresholds.
• Very short/atypical lines may need tuning to avoid overfit thresholds.