How to represent landmark trees in digital 3D maps? An automated workflow and user study

Information

• Publication Type: Journal Paper (without talk)
• Workgroup(s)/Project(s):
  • Visualization Group
• Date: May 2025
• DOI: 10.1080/15230406.2025.2489543
• ISSN: 1545-0465
• Journal: Cartography and Geographic Information Science
• Open Access: yes
• Pages: 18
• Volume: Number 0
• Publisher: TAYLOR & FRANCIS INC
• Pages: 1 – 18
• Keywords: Digital 3D maps, landmarks, trees, user study, modeling, rendering

Abstract

Digital 3D maps created from digital elevation models (DEMs) cannot properly capture trees due to the 2.5D nature of the DEMs. Leveraging publicly available DEMs and orthophotos as the only input data sources, we present a fully automatic pipeline that models landmark trees. We conducted two crowdsourced user studies to evaluate visual appeal and scene recognizability using two different levels of detail of tree representations generated using our pipeline. Users found highly detailed trees much more appealing, and also easier and more trustworthy to recognize, with open-ended responses revealing key factors like realism, coherence, and tree shape influencing their preferences. However, the ability to recognize a location seems to depend more on the surrounding environment than the representation of the landmark tree in focus. We discuss the implications of these results for digital 3D outdoor maps.

Additional Files and Images

Weblinks

• Entry in reposiTUm (TU Wien Publication Database)
• DOI: 10.1080/15230406.2025.2489543

BibTeX

@article{grammatikaki-2025-htr,
  title =      "How to represent landmark trees in digital 3D maps? An
               automated workflow and user study",
  author =     "Angeliki Grammatikaki and Johannes Eschner and Florian
               Ledermann and Oscar Argudo and Manuela Waldner",
  year =       "2025",
  abstract =   "Digital 3D maps created from digital elevation models (DEMs)
               cannot properly capture trees due to the 2.5D nature of the
               DEMs. Leveraging publicly available DEMs and orthophotos as
               the only input data sources, we present a fully automatic
               pipeline that models landmark trees. We conducted two
               crowdsourced user studies to evaluate visual appeal and
               scene recognizability using two different levels of detail
               of tree representations generated using our pipeline. Users
               found highly detailed trees much more appealing, and also
               easier and more trustworthy to recognize, with open-ended
               responses revealing key factors like realism, coherence, and
               tree shape influencing their preferences. However, the
               ability to recognize a location seems to depend more on the
               surrounding environment than the representation of the
               landmark tree in focus. We discuss the implications of these
               results for digital 3D outdoor maps.",
  month =      may,
  doi =        "10.1080/15230406.2025.2489543",
  issn =       "1545-0465",
  journal =    "Cartography and Geographic Information Science",
  pages =      "18",
  volume =     "Number 0",
  publisher =  "TAYLOR & FRANCIS INC",
  pages =      "1--18",
  keywords =   "Digital 3D maps, landmarks, trees, user study, modeling,
               rendering",
  URL =        "https://www.cg.tuwien.ac.at/research/publications/2025/grammatikaki-2025-htr/",
}