Events

Ground Truth, or how to resurrect a tree

Exhibitions
Explore the fascinating world of remote sensing technology and its role in understanding forests. The exhibition highlights the project's journey in developing advanced imaging techniques, predictive models, and the interplay between technology and nature. Visitors are encouraged to delve into the concept of "seeing the invisible" through cutting-edge methods and computer-aided vision, revealing a new perspective on the natural world.
3d render of a pine tree
Image: Adam Smith

When

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Where

V2, Väre, 2nd floor
Otaniementie 14, 02150 Espoo
a moment of exhibition tree scanning with a device

Forests are very visible, the technology and techniques used to study them are not. Ground Truth, or How To Resurrect a Tree is a story about ‘seeing something when there is nothing there.’ The project explores the discipline of remote sensing.  

Following the quest of remote sensing researchers to develop a better interpretation model of satellite data, this project explores cutting-edge imaging techniques of forests while looking back at photography’s love affair with natural landscapes. Using meticulous on-site measurements of physical structures and spectral properties of trees, researchers develop reliable predictive models. Ground truth data is often compared to experimental results to verify the performance of a model. A successful model allows us to distinguish various features of the Earth beyond what is shown optically in a satellite image. A computer-aided vision grants us the ability to exceed the resolution limit of the extraterrestrial apparatus, to resurrect a tree from the data collected by satellites. Powered by advanced imaging technologies and algorithms, seeing is more abstract than ever.  

forest capture
Video still of a point cloud of a forest plot at Hyytiälä field station. The point cloud is captured by the team members of the research project “From needles to landscapes: a novel approach to scaling forest spectra.

Contact

Sheung Yiu

Doctoral Researcher
[email protected]
Wood crystals on a black fabric.

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Two people discussing about a scetch they are looking on a computer

Department of Art and Media

The departments of Art and Media at Aalto University School of Arts, Design & Architecture have merged as of 1st January 2022. Professor Harri Laakso has been appointed as Head of the new Department of Art & Media.

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