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Data

Hemispherical Photography - Australian Field Sites 

Ver: 1.0
Status of Data: onGoing
Update Frequency: notPlanned
Security Classification: unclassified
Record Last Modified: 2025-12-02
Viewed 872 times
Accessed 39 times
Dataset Created: 2013-09-13
Dataset Published: 2021-12-02
Data can be accessed from the following links:
HTTPPoint-of-truth metadata URLHTTPJRSRP Field Data PortalHTTPhemispherical_photography_filenaming_convention.txtHTTPhemispherical_photography_shapefile_attributes.txtHTTPro-crate-metadata.json
How to cite this collection:
Department of the Environment, T. (2021). Hemispherical Photography - Australian Field Sites. Version 1.0. Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network. Dataset. https://portal.tern.org.au/metadata/84d13c44-e2ed-40f1-9424-4f6804cdc076 
Hemispherical photography has been collected across Australia to characterise plant canopy cover and structure, and to study leaf area index. Hemispherical photography is a technique for quantifying plant canopies via photographs captured through a digital camera with hemispherical or fisheye lens. Such photographs can be captured from beneath the canopy, looking upwards, (orientated towards zenith) or above the canopy looking downwards. These measurements have typically been collected in conjunction with the Statewide Landcover and Trees Study (SLATS) star transects field data together with plant canopy analysers such as LAI-2200 and CI-110. Data can be downloaded from https://field.jrsrp.com/ by selecting the combination Field and Hemispheric imagery. Photographs can be accesed through the right-hand side panel, or by finding the file_loc attribute in the csv file.  
Credit
We at TERN acknowledge the Traditional Owners and Custodians throughout Australia, New Zealand and all nations. We honour their profound connections to land, water, biodiversity and culture and pay our respects to their Elders past, present and emerging. The following organisations contributed to the data collection: Joint Remote Sensing Research Project, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Curtin University, University of Adelaide and CSIRO. This work was jointly funded by the Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network (TERN), an Australian Government National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS) project. We at TERN acknowledge the Traditional Owners and Custodians throughout Australia, New Zealand and all nations. We honour their profound connections to land, water, biodiversity and culture and pay our respects to their Elders past, present and emerging. 
Purpose
Hemispherical photography provides a number of structural measurements that can be used for calibration and validation of LiDAR derived products, such as LiDAR derived fractional cover and leaf area index. 
Lineage
Data not provided. 
Method DocumentationData not provided.
Procedure Steps

1. 

Sampling Strategy: A sample of images (5, 7 or 13 depending on site) are collected in a star or cross formation around a central point. All images are referenced to the central geographic location. The naming convention of the imagery enables positioning of each individual image in relation to that central point (see hemispherical_photography_filenaming_convention.txt in the data links). Three images are collected at each sampling point, using different exposures. Samples are collected at dawn, dusk or in overcast conditions. 

2. 

Australia
Temporal Coverage
From 2012-01-31 to on going 
Spatial Resolution

Data not provided.

Vertical Extent

Data not provided.

Data Quality Assessment Scope
For some of the images, information about the camera used to obtain the photos are missing. 
Data Quality Report
Data not provided. 
Data Quality Assessment Outcome
Data not provided. 
ANZSRC - FOR
Climate change impacts and adaptation
GCMD Sciences
BIOSPHERE - VEGETATION COVER
Horizontal Resolution
30 meters - < 100 meters
Instruments
Canon EOS 450D
Canon EOS 50D
Canon EOS 60D
Nikon D90
Parameters
RGB values
Temporal Resolution
Daily - < Weekly
Topic
environment
User Defined
Hemispherical photography
sigma 4.5 mm fisheye
sigma 8 mm fisheye
Author
Department of the Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation, Queensland Government
Contact Point
Data Enquiries, Earth Observation and Social Sciences (EOSS)
Publisher
Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network
Schaefer, M., et al., 2018, Chapter 6: Overview of ground based techniques for estimating LAI in Effective Field Calibration and Validation Practices, TERN
Export to DCATExport to BibTeXExport to EndNote/Zotero
Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network
80 Meiers Road, Indooroopilly, Queensland, 4068, Australia.
Contact Us
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Please cite this dataset as {Author} ({PublicationYear}). {Title}. {Version, as appropriate}. Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network. Dataset. {Identifier}. 
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Please advise any work or publications that use this data via the online form at https://www.tern.org.au/research-publications/#reporting 
Rights owned by the Joint Remote Sensing Research Program (JRSRP) 
These data can be freely downloaded and used subject to the CC BY licence. Attribution and citation is required as described at http://www.auscover.org.au/citation. We ask that you send us citations and copies of publications arising from work that use these data.