Habitat Analysis with an IR modified Mavic Pro 2

[AMann]

I just finished this project for my GIS class and wanted to share the results (see attached report). If anyone is interested in doing budget vegetation mapping for habitat analysis, recovery, wetlands delineation, etc., this may be a good low-cost approach for doing it.

Note: The Python tool I used (link provided in the reference section of the attached report) only works with ArcGIS Pro, but other free GIS programs like QGIS may also do similar types of red channel raster to polygon conversions needed for the process I used for the project to map riparian vegetation.

Open for critiques!!

 

[jaja6009]

Wow that is pretty cool!

Thank you very much for sharing!

I only know very basic information on vegetation mapping, so please go easy on my questions.

You chose the hardware since this was low cost? Would a Mavic 3M have produced better results for what you were doing?
Would something like the VARI algorithm also work?
Is this workflow good with comparison over time like how NDVI works better when using a sun sensor or calibration panel?

 

[AMann]

Wow that is pretty cool!

Thank you very much for sharing!

I only know very basic information on vegetation mapping, so please go easy on my questions.

You chose the hardware since this was low cost? Would a Mavic 3M have produced better results for what you were doing?
Would something like the VARI algorithm also work?
Is this workflow good with comparison over time like how NDVI works better when using a sun sensor or calibration panel?

Hi, and thanks for the good questions! I chose using my Mavic 2 Pro because that’s what I have…. In terms of image resolution, one can use just about any type of drone for this project since the ground resolution had to be limited to 1 meter in order to properly compare the 2025 results to those pre-fire 2022 images obtained through the NAIP images (I could have used drone photos from before the fire, but I didn’t fly the canyon then, so I used what I could find. The NAIP imagery is actually quite good for large scale projects.)

The procedure I used would not have measured plant health, it was only a measurement of the total coverage of plants with bright green and highly infrared reflective (presumably healthy), foliage in the riparian zone of the creek. You’re correct that I could’ve used a VARI algorithm without the filter, and I did one in essence, when I substituted the red channel by using the IR chrome filter for infrared.

You peaked my curiosity though, about trying a VARI analysis procedure while using a standard RGB camera in order to compare the two results. I have a second M2P with an unmodified stock camera and will try reflying the same project with that.

Thanks!