Dikes have been protecting the hinterland against flooding for centuries. Increasingly, however, these dykes are also becoming an integral part of the public's experience and recreational environment. Woody vegetation on dikes should be avoided from the point of view of flood protection and legal requirements, but is also desirable from an ecological and recreational point of view. A concept was therefore developed to assess the tree population along river dikes in order to achieve an objective assessment of the tree population. In addition to dike inspections, the possibilities of digitalisation using drones and satellites are increasingly being used for this purpose. The current possibilities of satellite-based data and the assessment concept will be presented in the lecture.