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Khan, Taimur (2026): HeideBench: A Multispectral UAV Time-Series Benchmark for Forest Crown Phenology in Dölauer Heide [dataset]. PANGAEA, https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.993969 (DOI registration in progress)

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Published: 2026-05-19

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Abstract:
We present HeideBench, a very-high-resolution multispectral uncrewed aerial vehicle dataset for forest crown phenology collected over a forest patch in Dölauer Heide, Halle (Saale), Germany. Dölauer Heide is currently dominated by pine plantations (Kiefernforste), which cover the largest area but are increasingly affected by dieback, while its potential natural vegetation is sessile oak–hornbeam forest rich in small-leaved lime (Albrecht et al., 1993). In addition to these pine stands, the area contains near-natural mixed deciduous forests with oaks, birches, and beeches, making it a particularly relevant setting for observing seasonal canopy development under contrasting forest structures and ongoing ecological transition. Against this background, HeideBench provides repeated observations of the same forest patch through the growing season. The dataset contains 18 georeferenced multispectral GeoTIFF orthomosaics acquired between 6 March 2025 and 5 November 2025, spanning a 244-day seasonal period from early spring to late autumn. The acquisitions have a median revisit interval of 14 days, with intervals ranging from 4 to 27 days, and an average ground sampling distance of 5.53 cm per pixel. The valid imaging footprint covers approximately 32.1 ha and is bounded by 11.902653–11.911325°E and 51.499959–51.508576°N.
Data were collected using a DJI Mavic 3M Enterprise uncrewed aerial vehicle equipped with four multispectral cameras measuring green (560 nm), red (650 nm), red-edge (730 nm), and near-infrared (860 nm) reflectance, in that order. Flights used a real-time kinematic (RTK) positioning module for centimeter-level geolocation, and all data are provided in coordinate reference system EPSG:25832. Imagery was processed with Agisoft Metashape 2.3.1 to generate calibrated multispectral orthomosaics. The dataset further includes 5,885 crop-safe individual tree crown instance segmentations over the same footprint, extracted with the DeepTrees software package (Khan et al., 2025). HeideBench is intended to support crown-centric analyses of seasonal canopy development, temporal representation learning, phenology-aware feature extraction, and the evaluation of tree crown delineation under seasonal change.
HeideBench is a result of the Dynamic Platform Project titled "PhenoEmbed: Multispectral UAV AI Embeddings for phenology-aware tree crown delineation" of the Integration Platform 1: "Sustainable future land use" (IP1) at the Helmholz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) in Leipzig, Germany.
Keyword(s):
Forest; Multispectral Image Data; phenology; Timeseries; UAV
Related to:
Albrecht, T; Buschendorf, J; Drechsler, K; Geissler, H; Gluch, W; Gnielka, R; Weidlich, M (1993): Die Dölauer Heide-Waldidylle in Großstadtnähe.
Khan, Taimur; Arnold, Caroline; Grover, Harsh (2025): DeepTrees: Tree Crown Segmentation and Analysis in Remote Sensing Imagery with PyTorch. Journal of Open Source Software, 10(114), 8056, https://doi.org/10.21105/joss.08056
Additional metadata:
ReadMe - file description of Multispectral UAV Time-Series Benchmark dataset from Heidebench 2025
Coverage:
Median Latitude: 51.504267 * Median Longitude: 11.906989 * South-bound Latitude: 51.499959 * West-bound Longitude: 11.902653 * North-bound Latitude: 51.508576 * East-bound Longitude: 11.911325
Date/Time Start: 2025-03-06T00:00:00 * Date/Time End: 2025-11-05T00:00:00
Event(s):
HeideBench_2025 (HeideBench) * Latitude Start: 51.508576 * Longitude Start: 11.902653 * Latitude End: 51.499959 * Longitude End: 11.911325 * Date/Time Start: 2025-03-06T00:00:00 * Date/Time End: 2025-11-05T00:00:00 * Method/Device: Drone, DJI, Mavic3M
Parameter(s):
#NameShort NameUnitPrincipal InvestigatorMethod/DeviceComment
1 DateDateKhan, Taimur
2 Raster graphic, GeoTIFF formatGeoTIFFKhan, Taimur
3 File contentContentKhan, Taimurfile content
4 Coordinate reference systemCRSKhan, Taimur
5 UTM Easting, Universal Transverse MercatorUTM eastmKhan, Taimurwestbound
6 UTM Northing, Universal Transverse MercatorUTM northmKhan, Taimursouthbound
7 UTM Easting, Universal Transverse MercatorUTM eastmKhan, Taimureastbound
8 UTM Northing, Universal Transverse MercatorUTM northmKhan, Taimurnorthbound
9 Longitude, westboundLongitude westKhan, Taimurwestbound
10 Latitude, southboundLatitude southKhan, Taimursouthbound
11 Longitude, eastboundLongitude eastKhan, Taimureastbound
12 Latitude, northboundLatitude northKhan, Taimurnorthbound
13 Pixel sizePixel sizemKhan, Taimurx-direction
14 Pixel sizePixel sizemKhan, Taimury-direction
15 Image pixel widthImage pixel w#Khan, Taimur
16 Image pixel heightImage pixel h#Khan, Taimur
17 CommentCommentKhan, TaimurBand count
18 DescriptionDescriptionKhan, TaimurBand description
19 Feature countsFeature ctn#Khan, Taimur
20 Date/time startDate/time startKhan, TaimurFlight start time (local)
21 Date/time endDate/time endKhan, TaimurFlight end time (local)
22 DurationDurationminKhan, TaimurFlight duration
23 Solar elevation angleSEAdegKhan, TaimurMin value
24 Solar elevation angleSEAdegKhan, TaimurMax value
25 Solar azimuth angleSAAdegKhan, TaimurMin value
26 Solar azimuth angleSAAdegKhan, TaimurMax value
27 IndicatorIndicatorKhan, TaimurIndicator if RTK was used
License:
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC-BY-4.0)
Status:
Curation Level: Enhanced curation (CurationLevelC)
Size:
492 data points

Data

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1 
Date		2 
GeoTIFF		3 
Content
(file content)		4 
CRS		5 
UTM east [m]
(westbound)		6 
UTM north [m]
(southbound)		7 
UTM east [m]
(eastbound)		8 
UTM north [m]
(northbound)		9 
Longitude west
(westbound)		10 
Latitude south
(southbound)		11 
Longitude east
(eastbound)		12 
Latitude north
(northbound)		13 
Pixel size [m]
(x-direction)		14 
Pixel size [m]
(y-direction)		15 
Image pixel w [#]		16 
Image pixel h [#]		17 
Comment
(Band count)		18 
Description
(Band description)		19 
Feature ctn [#]		20 
Date/time start
(Flight start time (local))		21 
Date/time end
(Flight end time (local))		22 
Duration [min]
(Flight duration)		23 
SEA [deg]
(Min value)		24 
SEA [deg]
(Max value)		25 
SAA [deg]
(Min value)		26 
SAA [deg]
(Max value)		27 
Indicator
(Indicator if RTK was used)
2025-03-0620250306.tifGeoreferenced UAV multispectral GeoTIFF orthomosaicEPSG:25832701427.5140785709430.568963702055.8904135710392.39404211.9021637151.4998431311.9117557051.508704720.0547175490.05471754911484175785Green|Red|RedEdge|NIR|Alpha2025-03-06T11:44:002025-03-06T12:05:0021284530881488915852No
2025-03-1820250318.tifGeoreferenced UAV multispectral GeoTIFF orthomosaicEPSG:25832701427.5332715709430.563411702055.8683225710392.39806411.9021639951.4998430911.9117553851.508704750.0567755540.05677555411067169415Green|Red|RedEdge|NIR|Alpha2025-03-18T11:42:002025-03-18T12:07:002536863773165761783No
2025-04-1420250414.tifGeoreferenced UAV multispectral GeoTIFF orthomosaicEPSG:25832701427.4966795709430.601957702055.8945815710392.39061911.9021634851.4998434311.9117557551.508704700.0563636110.05636361111149170645Green|Red|RedEdge|NIR|Alpha2025-04-14T11:16:002025-04-14T11:37:0021411644791381115066Yes
2025-04-2820250428.tifGeoreferenced UAV multispectral GeoTIFF orthomosaicEPSG:25832701427.5231665709430.560534702055.8608535710392.37015911.9021638451.4998430711.9117552651.508704500.0548383390.05483833911458175395Green|Red|RedEdge|NIR|Alpha2025-04-28T10:27:002025-04-28T10:49:002238324461119251331Yes
2025-05-1220250512.tifGeoreferenced UAV multispectral GeoTIFF orthomosaicEPSG:25832701427.5018745709430.579706702055.8913385710392.39354611.9021635451.4998432311.9117557151.508704720.0552576030.05525760311372174065Green|Red|RedEdge|NIR|Alpha2025-05-12T09:56:002025-05-12T10:21:0025381244411103512186Yes
2025-05-2620250526.tifGeoreferenced UAV multispectral GeoTIFF orthomosaicEPSG:25832701427.5360665709430.555442702055.8398055710392.38812511.9021640251.4998430311.9117549651.508704660.0552840950.05528409511365173985Green|Red|RedEdge|NIR|Alpha2025-05-26T10:11:002025-05-26T10:33:0022410849410912503Yes
2025-06-1620250616.tifGeoreferenced UAV multispectral GeoTIFF orthomosaicEPSG:25832701427.5066215709430.563940702055.8777165710392.41218911.9021636051.4998430911.9117555251.508704890.0557560860.05575608611270172515Green|Red|RedEdge|NIR|Alpha2025-06-16T10:00:002025-06-16T10:22:002232924211930210597Yes
2025-06-2020250620.tifGeoreferenced UAV multispectral GeoTIFF orthomosaicEPSG:25832701427.5339095709430.555979702055.8926955710392.37234711.9021639951.4998430111.9117557251.508704520.0550805390.05508053911408174625Green|Red|RedEdge|NIR|Alpha2025-06-20T09:14:002025-06-20T09:36:00223448391950710145Yes
2025-06-3020250630.tifGeoreferenced UAV multispectral GeoTIFF orthomosaicEPSG:25832701427.5177835709430.600372702055.8514015710392.38595911.9021637951.4998434311.9117551351.508704650.0549434780.05494347811436175055Green|Red|RedEdge|NIR|Alpha2025-06-30T09:55:002025-06-30T10:22:002740084741034511575Yes
2025-07-1720250717.tifGeoreferenced UAV multispectral GeoTIFF orthomosaicEPSG:25832701427.5176955709430.566922702055.8625955710392.40088311.9021637751.4998431211.9117553051.508704780.0555075000.05550750011320173285Green|Red|RedEdge|NIR|Alpha2025-07-17T09:55:002025-07-17T10:20:0025381745441045811685Yes
2025-07-2920250729.tifGeoreferenced UAV multispectral GeoTIFF orthomosaicEPSG:25832701427.5021875709430.593129702055.8850975710392.39239911.9021635651.4998433511.9117556251.508704710.0554031840.05540318411342173605Green|Red|RedEdge|NIR|Alpha2025-07-29T09:24:002025-07-29T09:45:00213168377199910881Yes
2025-08-1220250812.tifGeoreferenced UAV multispectral GeoTIFF orthomosaicEPSG:25832701427.4871155709430.566649702055.8803995710392.37641311.9021633251.4998431111.9117555451.508704570.0545243630.05452436311525176405Green|Red|RedEdge|NIR|Alpha2025-08-12T10:22:002025-08-12T10:44:0022377443116912756Yes
2025-08-2520250825.tifGeoreferenced UAV multispectral GeoTIFF orthomosaicEPSG:25832701427.4906915709430.564405702055.8647105710392.38054211.9021633851.4998431011.9117553251.508704610.0552513870.05525138711373174085Green|Red|RedEdge|NIR|Alpha2025-08-25T11:40:002025-08-25T12:02:002243947031431115642Yes
2025-09-0820250908.tifGeoreferenced UAV multispectral GeoTIFF orthomosaicEPSG:25832701427.5160665709430.554197702055.8691475710392.40549711.9021637351.4998430111.9117554051.508704820.0549692140.05496921411431174985Green|Red|RedEdge|NIR|Alpha2025-09-08T10:57:002025-09-08T11:19:0022356639561353414691Yes
2025-09-1920250919.tifGeoreferenced UAV multispectral GeoTIFF orthomosaicEPSG:25832701427.5367905709430.581909702055.8692315710392.39115311.9021640551.4998432511.9117553951.508704690.0547042000.05470420011486175825Green|Red|RedEdge|NIR|Alpha2025-09-19T11:23:002025-09-19T11:45:00223423731144081558Yes
2025-09-3020250930.tifGeoreferenced UAV multispectral GeoTIFF orthomosaicEPSG:25832701427.5384285709430.591284702055.8702365710392.37794011.9021640851.4998433411.9117554051.508704570.0554280000.05542800011336173525Green|Red|RedEdge|NIR|Alpha2025-09-30T11:31:002025-09-30T11:53:0022313533931496716113Yes
2025-10-1020251010.tifGeoreferenced UAV multispectral GeoTIFF orthomosaicEPSG:25832701427.4865085709430.572308702055.8663655710392.38271311.9021633251.4998431711.9117553451.508704630.0551307120.05513071211398174465Green|Red|RedEdge|NIR|Alpha2025-10-10T12:08:002025-10-10T12:30:0022303131531628717436Yes
2025-11-0520251105.tifGeoreferenced UAV multispectral GeoTIFF orthomosaicEPSG:25832701427.4998415709430.551427702055.8492955710392.37094211.9021635051.4998429911.9117550951.508704520.0556061460.05560614611300172975Green|Red|RedEdge|NIR|Alpha2025-11-05T13:04:002025-11-05T13:26:0022223322741810418884Yes
treecrowns.geojsonMerged individual tree crown polygon annotations.EPSG:25832701431.7000005709437.700000702054.1000005710389.50000011.9027116451.5000233011.9113005151.508550755889
uav_footprint.geojsonValid UAV-imaging footprint polygon.EPSG:25832701427.4838075709430.550292702055.8950135710392.41500811.9026531451.4999590211.9113246551.508575791