Very High-Resolution Panoramic Photography to Improve Conventional Rangeland Monitoring

Abstract

Rangeland monitoring often includes repeat photographs as a basis for documentation. Whereas photographic equipment and electronics have been evolving rapidly, photographic monitoring methods for rangelands have changed little over time because each picture is a compromise between resolution and area covered. Advances in image sensors, storage media, and image-processing software allow enormous amounts of information to be collected efficiently and inexpensively, so multiple pictures taken at full zoom can be combined into a single high-resolution panoramic image. This project was initiated to integrate very-high-resolution panoramic images with conventional rangeland monitoring methods addressing three resource management categories: riparian areas, wildlife, and invasive species.