Interactive processing

If a single picture was chosen (either directly or via a parameter file), its analysis is typically done in several steps:

• set the site and its coordinates (necessary to analyse the light regime),
• set the horizon (or the viewing limit of the lens),
• choose which lens was used to take the picture,
• choose which rings to analyse, and if wished the mumber of sectors,
• set the north and the slope parameters if the picture is from a site on a slope,
• choose a threshold or choose a calculation method and let it be calculated,
• check the classification in black and white based on this threshold,
• view the frequencies of the colours to compare them with the threshold,
• choose the LAI analysis methods,
• choose the settings for the analysis of the light regime,
• run the analysis,
• view the results,
• save the parameters for a future use.

LAI estimation and light regime analysis depend on many parameters and, at the beginning, it requires many settings, choices and tests. It is often necessary to go back through these steps till all the parameters are set and the results are satisfactory. Once this is done with one picture, a few other ones can also be processed interactively. Then, when there is confidence about the method, large numbers of pictures can be processed in the batch mode.