Benchmarking individual tree segmentation using multispectral airborne laser scanning data: the FGI-EMIT dataset

2025-11-01

AI Summary

Current individual tree segmentation (ITS) suffers from the absence of large-scale, multispectral LiDAR benchmark datasets and ineffective exploitation of multispectral reflectance—particularly for understory trees. To address this, we introduce FGI-EMIT, the first large-scale airborne multispectral LiDAR dataset specifically designed for ITS, comprising 1,561 manually annotated trees with enhanced understory coverage. Leveraging co-registered 532/905/1550 nm spectral channels, we systematically evaluate four unsupervised geometric methods and four deep learning models—including ForestFormer3D—using Bayesian hyperparameter optimization and end-to-end training from scratch. Experimental results show that ForestFormer3D achieves a 73.3% F1 score, outperforming the best unsupervised method (Treeiso) by 20.1 percentage points; its advantage is especially pronounced for understory tree segmentation (+25.9 points) and remains robust even at low point densities (10 pts/m²).

Technology Category

• Machine Learning: Multi-instance/Multi-view Learning
• Computer Vision: Segmentation
• Intelligent Robots: Multimodal Perception & Sensor Fusion

Application Category

• Semantics and Knowledge: Methods to enhance, augment, integrate or synergize semantic models such as knowledge graphs and LLMs
• Search and Retrieval-Augmented AI: Web evaluation methodologies and metrics
• Graph Algorithms and Modeling for the Web: Graph embeddings and representation learning for Web-related graphs

Abstract

Individual tree segmentation (ITS) from LiDAR point clouds is fundamental for applications such as forest inventory, carbon monitoring and biodiversity assessment. Traditionally, ITS has been achieved with unsupervised geometry-based algorithms, while more recent advances have shifted toward supervised deep learning (DL). In the past, progress in method development was hindered by the lack of large-scale benchmark datasets, and the availability of novel data formats, particularly multispectral (MS) LiDAR, remains limited to this day, despite evidence that MS reflectance can improve the accuracy of ITS. This study introduces FGI-EMIT, the first large-scale MS airborne laser scanning benchmark dataset for ITS. Captured at wavelengths 532, 905, and 1,550 nm, the dataset consists of 1,561 manually annotated trees, with a particular focus on small understory trees. Using FGI-EMIT, we comprehensively benchmarked four conventional unsupervised algorithms and four supervised DL approaches. Hyperparameters of unsupervised methods were optimized using a Bayesian approach, while DL models were trained from scratch. Among the unsupervised methods, Treeiso achieved the highest test set F1-score of 52.7%. The DL approaches performed significantly better overall, with the best model, ForestFormer3D, attaining an F1-score of 73.3%. The most significant difference was observed in understory trees, where ForestFormer3D exceeded Treeiso by 25.9 percentage points. An ablation study demonstrated that current DL-based approaches generally fail to leverage MS reflectance information when it is provided as additional input features, although single channel reflectance can improve accuracy marginally, especially for understory trees. A performance analysis across point densities further showed that DL methods consistently remain superior to unsupervised algorithms, even at densities as low as 10 points/m$^2$.

Problem

• Benchmarking tree segmentation using multispectral LiDAR data
• Addressing limited datasets for supervised deep learning methods
• Evaluating performance across conventional and deep learning approaches

Innovation

• Introducing FGI-EMIT multispectral LiDAR benchmark dataset
• Benchmarking unsupervised algorithms with Bayesian hyperparameter optimization
• Evaluating supervised deep learning models trained from scratch