Simplify README with project vision and create comprehensive documentation structure

[Copilot]

README Simplification and Documentation Restructuring ✅

• Create docs directory structure for detailed documentation
• Create simplified README with project vision
• Clarify what's currently available vs coming soon
• Address feedback about repo being more than just dataset
• Add DeepForest integration plans
• Use checkboxes in project vision to show status
• Remove citation section (not yet available)
• Keep language simple and concise

Latest Changes

Final README refinements:

• Added checkboxes to Project Vision section (✓ for available, ☐ for in development/planned)
• Removed Citation section since there's no citation yet
• Reduced from 115 lines to 101 lines (additional 12% reduction)

Project Vision now clearly shows:

• Dataset (available)
• Data Processing (in development)
• Classification Models (in development)
• DeepForest Integration (planned)

The README is now concise, professional, and clearly communicates what's available versus what's coming.

Original prompt

---

This section details on the original issue you should resolve

<issue_title>Next steps for the package</issue_title>
<issue_description>

Future Development Roadmap

Documentation

• Create ReadTheDocs documentation to move detailed content out of the main README and provide comprehensive project documentation
• Streamline README to focus on essentials only:
  • Dataloader usage and examples
  • Available pretrained models

Model Expansion and Dataset Restructuring

• Add additional model architectures (use Hugging Face for uploading models)
  • HSI Model from DeepTreeAttention
  • Hyperparameter tuning and other optimization like balanced sampling
• Move the dataset to Hugging Face

---

Priority: Medium
Labels: enhancement, documentation

Additional context:
The current README contains too much information and would benefit from being simplified to cover only the core user needs (data loading and model access), while moving comprehensive documentation to a dedicated ReadTheDocs site.
</issue_description>

<agent_instructions>The current readme is very clunky, full of emojis and fluff.. I want to move detailed instructions to Docs and keep the readme very straightforward. The readme should just focus on providing the user information about the dataset and then instructions to access the data. it should be in simple language and be informative but concise.. I want you to check with me if there is any confusion or something is unclear, do not make assumptions or hallucinate.</agent_instructions>

Comments on the Issue (you are @copilot in this section)

Fixes #4

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[Ritesh313]

@copilot This mostly looks good, but the readme still needs changes, it is still a bit clunky. Here are specific comments:

1. The repo is not just for dataset, it is for NEON Multi-Modal Tree Species Classification in general. It has code for neon data curation (downloading tiles for all 3 modalities and cropping them just from shp files), then cropping out crowns and creating dataset, also has classification models setup. However, these are not yet ready for public use, at this point it's only the dataset: which includes downloading the dataset files, getting pytorch dataloaders.
2. With the above in mind, the readme should be more simpler. It will briefly state the goals and vision for this repo, and then talk about what's already there (which will be the dataset description). I want to share this with users, I want them to easily be able to access what's available right now (dataset), but also be aware of all the functionalities that are almost there and will come in future. But I just want it all conveyed in simple language and a concise readme.
3. Another thing that's pending is to connect this repo to DeepForest for a) being able to download tiles and get crowns for all 3 modalities after using deepforest to get crowns b) use a pretrained classifier that will be added in this repo or finetune/train on their dataset created using deepforest. the second one is a maybe

I think the dataset description in the readme is mostly fine, i just want it to convey what is coming in future and then just make it easy for users to get the data as of now.

[Copilot]

@copilot This mostly looks good, but the readme still needs changes, it is still a bit clunky. Here are specific comments:

1. The repo is not just for dataset, it is for NEON Multi-Modal Tree Speci...

I've restructured the README to address all your points:

1. Project scope clarified: Changed from "Dataset" to "NEON Multi-Modal Tree Species Classification" and added a Project Vision section that outlines the end-to-end goals
2. What's available vs coming soon: Created clear sections showing the dataset is currently available, while processing tools and classification models are in development
3. DeepForest integration: Added to the "Coming Soon" section with specific use cases for integration
4. Simplified and concise: Reduced from 165 to 115 lines, removed tables for simpler lists, consolidated code examples

The README now conveys the full vision while making it easy for users to immediately access the dataset. See commit e89a1bc.

[Ritesh313]

@copilot That looks much better. A few issues:

1. can we make the initial list in the vision be checkboxes, so it's clear what's available what's not?
2. There's no citation yet, don't make things up.

[Ritesh313]

@copilot there was an error when trying to execute the last request. Check again and fix the issues mentioned in the last comment

[Copilot]

@copilot there was an error when trying to execute the last request. Check again and fix the issues mentioned in the last comment

Fixed both issues in commit 9f3c8aa:

1. Checkboxes added: Project Vision now uses checkboxes to clearly show what's available ([x] Dataset) vs. what's coming ([ ] Data Processing, Classification Models, DeepForest Integration)
2. Citation removed: Removed the citation section entirely since there's no citation yet

The README is now 101 lines (down from 115), making it even more concise while clearly communicating status.