Utilization of UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) technology for mangrove species identification in Belawan, Medan City, North Sumatera, Indonesia

Abstract The mangrove forests in Indonesia are starting to decrease over time because there is still a lack of knowledge among people around the coast about the importance of mangroves. Kampung Nelayan, Medan Belawaan, is a coastal community area whose life is very dependent on coastal, mangrove, and water resources. Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) technology has the potential to provide a fast, cost-effective, and efficient mangrove mapping technique. It is very useful because mangrove areas are located in remote areas, where field measurements are difficult, time-consuming, and expensive. The objective of this study is to analyze mangrove species using UAV imagery with Object-Based Image Analysis (OBIA) classification. The object-based classification result for the overall accuracy is 82.94% where there are 7 classes of mangrove species based on the classification process, including: Avicennia alba, Avicennia officinialis, Avicennia Marina, Rhizopora apiculata, Nypah fruticans, Scyphipora hydrophylacea, Bruguiera gymnorriza. There are also two classes for non-mangrove, consisting of the water body and non-mangrove. The largest area of mangrove species in the research site is Avicennia Marina with a percentage of 33.86% covering an area of 7.80 Ha. The second-largest mangrove species with a percentage of 21.88% is Avicennia officinalis with an area of 5.04 Ha.