Sensor Networks and Smart Green Cities: Mapping Urban Tree Phenology

This PhD project aims to provide automatic insights into urban trees from ground level, high spatial and high temporal datasets. The project output will be designed to support the decision making, planning, and management of green infrastructure for sustainable smart green cities. Data from novel Sensor Networks and Internet of Things (IoT) devices such as CCTV cameras, dashcams, and traffic cameras will be obtained as sources of urban tree imagery. Computer vision techniques and deep learning algorithms will be applied to detect and segment urban trees from the data, and subsequently map the seasonal phenology of trees through obtaining metrics and indices including: greenness, leaf area, and vertical foliage profiles.

Information on urban tree phenology is a valuable input variable in modelling carbon sequestration, urban hydrology, and the urban heat island effect. Phenology is also an important ecological indicator for understanding the feedback between climate change and vegetation productivity. Existing remote sensing and field observation approaches for monitoring phenology, in particular for trees in urban environments, have pitfalls in their resolutions which consequently limit our understanding of this natural phenomena. Urban trees play a key role in the functionality of city environments; ecosystem services have numerous benefits for cities and their citizens. This plethora of regulative, provisional, and cultural services to both society and the natural environment include: improving air quality, air temperature cooling, carbon sequestration, stormwater management, habitat provision, with urban trees are also thought to reduce stress and improve mental wellbeing. High resolution data on the phenology of urban trees will result in a better understanding of climate change impacts on tree productivity, and subsequently the actual value of ecosystem services. When also considering the potential to improve various environmental models, this project's outputs will be able to better inform the decision making and management of urban trees, such as for future planting plans, working towards a data driven, smart green city.

We have identified the potential impact of the CDT in consultation with 44 partner organisations, ensuring we are meeting the needs of potential beneficiaries. The impacts that we will develop robust pathways to achieve include:

Economic:
Our graduates will be a key pool of knowledge and skills to deliver the annual £11bn of economic benefit to the UK from 'opening-up' geospatial data. Their advanced skills in a rapidly changing technological field will help the UK geospatial industry realise the predicted global annual growth of 13.8% and transform the use of geospatial data and technology in smart cities, urban-infrastructure resilience, energy systems and structural monitoring.
Through continuous two-way engagement with our partners we will shape and deliver industry relevant PhD projects that apply students' unique training. Ongoing knowledge exchange with industry will be facilitated through regular interaction with the centre, the Industrial Advisory Board and partner participation at the Innovation Festival, CDT Assembly and Challenge Week events. We will work with the recently announced £80m Geospatial Commission to ensure the translation of new methods, techniques and technology to the broadest possible user base; using our partnerships with professional bodies to recognise the opportunities and challenges to realising the economic benefits of geospatial data.
SME and start-ups are will be major drivers of global geospatial industry growth. Innovation and entrepreneurial training will position our graduates to act as a catalyst of the growth needed in the UK to remain internationally competitive. Working with Satellite and Digital Catapults, and the £30million National Innovation Centre for Data, we will foster a 'full-circle' engagement with SME's and start-ups; to ensure our graduates understand the drivers for innovation, facilitate co-production and ensure the timely adoption of academic driven advances for economic growth.

Societal:
We have recognised the significant role geospatial data will play in providing the evidence for improved planning and response to significant global societal problems. The interdisciplinary PhD research conducted within the CDT will provide new insight and understanding in climate impacts and adaption, sustainable cities, and healthy living and aging. Our graduates will engage with key international and national organisations (e.g., Cities Resilience Programme of the World Bank, UK National Infrastructure Commission) to ensure the widest adoption of their research.

Academic:
Our graduates will form the next generation of geospatial scientists and engineers vital for interdisciplinary research at the engineering-societal-environment nexus. Their combined skills in geospatial technology and methods, along with advanced mathematical, statistical and computing skills, will provide the UK with a unique resource pool of academic leaders. The research produced by the centre, sustained and embedded by the skilled workforce it creates, will help address the Grand Challenges of the UK Industrial Strategy; AI and the Data Driven Economy, Future Mobility and an Aging Society.

To maximize academic outreach we will provide a Geospatial Systems Resource Portal that will allow researchers to access the new techniques and methods developed. Software and related methods will be open source, and tutorials and training guides will be developed as a matter of routine. We will organise CPD courses based on our unique integrated training in Geospatial Systems, open to cohorts from other CDTs within the digital economy space. We will foster cross-UKRI translation and learning by working with related CDTs; the ESRC CDT in Data Analytics and Society and NERC CDT in Data, Risks and Environmental Analytical Methods. Via our 9 international research partners our unique training approach and strong emphasis on interdisciplinary research will become internationally impactful.