DeepForest: A Python package for RGB deep learning tree crown delineation

Abstract

Remote sensing of forested landscapes can transform the speed, scale and cost of forest research. The delineation of individual trees in remote sensing images is an essential task in forest analysis. Here we introduce a new Python package, DeepForest that detects individual trees in high resolution RGB imagery using deep learning. While deep learning has proven highly effective in a range of computer vision tasks, it requires large amounts of training data that are typically difficult to obtain in ecological studies. DeepForest overcomes this limitation by including a model pretrained on over 30 million algorithmically generated crowns from 22 forests and fine-tuned using 10,000 hand-labelled crowns from six forests. The package supports the application of this general model to new data, fine tuning the model to new datasets with user labelled crowns, training new models and evaluating model predictions. This simplifies the process of using and retraining deep learning models for a range of forests, sensors and spatial resolutions. We illustrate the workflow of DeepForest using data from the National Ecological Observatory Network, a tropical forest in French Guiana, and street trees from Portland, Oregon.