About HabitApp

HabitApp is designed for aiding habitat assessment in the field, providing a simple way to measure the leaf coverage provided by the surrounding tree canopy.

Check out the demo below.

Background

Many studies and habitat assessments (for example the Environment Agency’s River Habitat Survey) involve the calculation of percentage leaf/canopy cover.

The traditional method used to measure coverage involves using a spherical densiometer, however this is an expensive tool and previous studies suggest that with occular estimations operator variability is a large potential source of error. Digital methods of canopy cover estimation are also available, for example via aerial photography and GIS data. However, none of these methods allow a quick and accurate coverage measurement while in the field.

Why Use HabitApp

With HabitApp we introduce a novel approach to calculating percentage cover using a photo of the canopy, turning your smart device or computer into a coverage measurement tool.

Using an image of the canopy, HabitApp converts the pixels to black and white. Whether a pixel becomes black or white is governed by the cut-off value. The cut-off value is important as it enables you to apply the same setting to other images taken in similar conditions.

Once the coverage image has been created the percentage cover is calculated from the number of black pixels in the resulting image.

For best results, consider taking multiple images at your location to get an average coverage value. Changes in light conditions and cloud cover might require you to adjust the cut-off value.

If you have a smartphone and want to use HabitApp in the field, you can download our free Android app (once downloaded this requires no internet or mobile signal), or alternatively use the online version available on this site. If you have a Windows computer you can also use the Windows desktop version.

Demo

Cut-off:

Percentage coverage: