Forest Thematic Maps and Forest Statistics Using the k-Nearest Neighbor Technique for Pyeongchang-Gun, Gangwon-Do

摘要

This study was conducted to produce forest thematic maps and estimate forest statistics for Pyeongchang Gun using the kNN technique, which has been applied to produce thematic maps of variables of interest including unobserved plots by combining fieldplot data, remotely sensed data and other digital map data in forest inventories. The estimation errors for three horizontal reference areas (HRAs), whose radii are 20, 40 and 60 km respectively, were compared. Although the precision for the 40 km radius was lower compared to that for the 60 km radius, the 40 km radius was found to be an efficient HRA because their difference in precision was modest. At a value of k=5 nearest neighbors for the selected HRA, the overall accuracy was high. As a result, using the k=5 neighbors within the HRA of 40 km radius, thematic maps of number of trees, basal area, and growing stock per hectare were generated. As compared to the forest statistics based on field sample plots, the estimated means of each parameter from the produced maps were underestimated.