This New Zealand Point Cloud Classification Deep Learning Package will classify point clouds into tree and background classes. This model is optimized to work with New Zealand aerial LiDAR data.The classification of point cloud datasets to identify Trees is useful in applications such as high-quality 3D basemap creation, urban planning, forestry workflows, and planning climate change response.Trees could have a complex irregular geometrical structure that is hard to capture using traditional means. Deep learning models are highly capable of learning these complex structures and giving superior results.This model is designed to extract Tree in both urban and rural area in New Zealand.The Training/Testing/Validation dataset are taken within New Zealand resulting of a high reliability to recognize the pattern of NZ common building architecture.Licensing requirementsArcGIS Desktop - ArcGIS 3D Analyst extension for ArcGIS ProUsing the modelThe model can be used in ArcGIS Pro's Classify Point Cloud Using Trained Model tool. Before using this model, ensure that the supported deep learning frameworks libraries are installed. For more details, check Deep Learning Libraries Installer for ArcGIS.Note: Deep learning is computationally intensive, and a powerful GPU is recommended to process large datasets.InputThe model is trained with classified LiDAR that follows the LINZ base specification. The input data should be similar to this specification.Note: The model is dependent on additional attributes such as Intensity, Number of Returns, etc, similar to the LINZ base specification. This model is trained to work on classified and unclassified point clouds that are in a projected coordinate system, in which the units of X, Y and Z are based on the metric system of measurement. If the dataset is in degrees or feet, it needs to be re-projected accordingly. The model was trained using a training dataset with the full set of points. Therefore, it is important to make the full set of points available to the neural network while predicting - allowing it to better discriminate points of 'class of interest' versus background points. It is recommended to use 'selective/target classification' and 'class preservation' functionalities during prediction to have better control over the classification and scenarios with false positives.The model was trained on airborne lidar datasets and is expected to perform best with similar datasets. Classification of terrestrial point cloud datasets may work but has not been validated. For such cases, this pre-trained model may be fine-tuned to save on cost, time, and compute resources while improving accuracy. Another example where fine-tuning this model can be useful is when the object of interest is tram wires, railway wires, etc. which are geometrically similar to electricity wires. When fine-tuning this model, the target training data characteristics such as class structure, maximum number of points per block and extra attributes should match those of the data originally used for training this model (see Training data section below).OutputThe model will classify the point cloud into the following classes with their meaning as defined by the American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ASPRS) described below: 0 Background 5 Trees / High-vegetationApplicable geographiesThe model is expected to work well in the New Zealand. It's seen to produce favorable results as shown in many regions. However, results can vary for datasets that are statistically dissimilar to training data.Training dataset - Wellington CityTesting dataset - Tawa CityValidation/Evaluation dataset - Christchurch City Dataset City Training Wellington Testing Tawa Validating ChristchurchModel architectureThis model uses the PointCNN model architecture implemented in ArcGIS API for Python.Accuracy metricsThe table below summarizes the accuracy of the predictions on the validation dataset. - Precision Recall F1-score Never Classified 0.991200 0.975404 0.983239 High Vegetation 0.933569 0.975559 0.954102Training dataThis model is trained on classified dataset originally provided by Open TopoGraphy with < 1% of manual labelling and correction.Train-Test split percentage {Train: 80%, Test: 20%} Chosen this ratio based on the analysis from previous epoch statistics which appears to have a descent improvementThe training data used has the following characteristics: X, Y, and Z linear unitMeter Z range-121.69 m to 26.84 m Number of Returns1 to 5 Intensity16 to 65520 Point spacing0.2 ± 0.1 Scan angle-15 to +15 Maximum points per block8192 Block Size20 Meters Class structure[0, 5]Sample resultsModel to classify a dataset with 5pts/m density Christchurch city dataset. The model's performance are directly proportional to the dataset point density and noise exlcuded point clouds.To learn how to use this model, see this story