Ground Truth, or How to Resurrect a Tree illustrates the state of ‘seeing something when there is none.’ Following the quest of a group of scientists in Finland striving to develop a better interpretation model of satellite data, this project explores cutting-edge imaging techniques of forests while looking back at photography’s love affair with natural landscapes. 

Using meticulous on-site measurements of physical structures and spectral properties of trees, researchers develop reliable predictive models. Ground truth data is often compared to experimental results to verify the performance of a model, the success of which allows mankind to distinguish various features of the Earth beyond what is shown optically in a satellite image.

A computer-aided vision grants us the ability to exceed the resolution limit of the extraterrestrial apparatus, to resurrect a tree from the data collected by satellites. Powered by advanced imaging technologies and algorithms, seeing is more abstract than ever.

Curated by He Yining