Use of airborne video data for the characterization of tropical savannas in northern Australia: the optimal spatial resolution for remote sensing applications.

Very high resolution airborne video data were used to assess the optimal spatial resolution for mapping the land cover types occurring in the tropical savannas of northern Australia. Canopy cover and principal component images were extracted for four vegetation communities and investigated separately. Analysis of average variance in conjunction with a proposed visual analysis method proved more successful in establishing the optimal resolution than analysis of spatial autocorrelation using semivariograms. The optimal resolution was found to be dependent on the structure of the vegetation community as well as the image component under investigation. A resolution of between 20 and 27 m is optimal for all instances examined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]