Integration of Multiband Imagery as a Means of Monitoring Wetland Resources for the Virginia Department of Transportation

摘要

Digital multispectral imagery is a data collection technique that provides digital frame coverage in four spectral bands for color infrared imaging, allowing for the detection of soils, vegetation, water bodies, chemically contaminated areas, and various other resources. It is anticipated that using multispectral digital imagery technology for wetlands data collection will aid the Virginia Department of Transportation's (VDOT) Environmental Division in meeting the increasingly stringent monitoring requirements placed on it by state and federal regulatory agencies. Previous research conducted by the Virginia Transportation Research Council and Virginia Commonwealth University concluded that multispectral imagery was technically feasible and significantly less expensive than traditional field methods. The primary objective of this research was to aid VDOT in implementing digital multispectral imagery to acquire some of the vegetation data required for the monitoring of its wetland mitigation program by determining the accuracy of the data collected with this technology and comparing it with data collected manually in the field. This was done in the hopes of convincing VDOT and the regulatory agencies that data collected by this means could replace some of the vegetation information currently collected manually.