Day 16

Today vegetation team set out to collect data for our individual projects. We are all gathering GPS points of both native and invasive vegetation but for different reasons. The points that we all individually take will benefit the main research project by adding more points for comparison. . I am going to be comparing 4 and 8 band imagery to determine if the 8 band imagery is worth the extra costs both fiscal and in man hours. I plan to do this first in ERDAS and then in Ecognition. I will not be using pan sharpened imagery in order to prevent adding bias into my comparison of the imagery types. I am skeptical of being able to determine the difference between native and non-native plants at this resolution. These plants are rare and do not occur in large enough patches to appear on the imagery as more than one or two pixels. I am confident that I will be able to determine the differences between species of invasive vegetation in either Ecognition or ERDAS because of how large the groupings of these species are on the landscape. They also have very distinct textures which will be beneficial in classifying species in Ecognition. I used the Garmin GPS unit to take my points and I now understand the cost difference between this unit and the Trimble. The Trimble is much more precise and has many useful options which the consumer grade Garmin does not. In the evening we had the opportunity to go paddling on outrigger canoes! It was amazing! I can’t wait to try it again! Afterward we ate dinner at a great burger place near the harbor.