Multiple-entity based classification of airborne laser scanning data in urban areas

There are two main challenges when it comes to classifying airborne laser scanning (ALS) data. The first challenge is to find suitable attributes to distinguish classes of interest. The second is to define proper entities to calculate the attributes. In most cases, efforts are made to find suitable attributes and less attention is paid to defining an entity. It is our hypothesis that, with the same defined attributes and classifier, accuracy will improve if multiple entities are used for classification. To verify this hypothesis, we propose a multiple-entity based classification method to classify seven classes: ground, water, vegetation, roof, wall, roof element, and undefined object. We also compared the performance of the multiple-entity based method to the single-entity based method.Features have been extracted, in most previous work, from a single entity in ALS data; either from a point or from grouped points. In our method, we extract features from three different entities: points, planar segments, and segments derived by mean shift. Features extracted from these entities are inputted into a four-step classification strategy. After ALS data are filtered into ground and non-ground points. Features generalised from planar segments are used to classify points into the following: water, ground, roof, vegetation, and undefined objects. This is followed by point-wise identification of the walls and roof elements using the contextual information of a building. During the contextual reasoning, the portion of the vegetation extending above the roofs is classified as a roof element. This portion of points is eventually re-segmented by the mean shift method and then reclassified.Five supervised classifiers are applied to classify the features extracted from planar segments and mean shift segments. The experiments demonstrate that a multiple-entity strategy achieves slightly higher overall accuracy and achieves much higher accuracy for vegetation, in comparison to the single-entity strategy (using only point features and planar segment features). Although the multiple-entity method obtains nearly the same overall accuracy as the planar-segment method, the accuracy of vegetation improves by 3.3% with the rule-based classifier. The multiple-entity method obtains much higher overall accuracy and higher accuracy in vegetation in comparison to using only the point-wise classification method for all five classifiers.Meanwhile, we compared the performances of five classifiers. The rule-based method provides the highest overall accuracy at 97.0%. The rule-based method provides over 99.0% accuracy for the ground and roof classes, and a minimum accuracy of 90.0% for the water, vegetation, wall and undefined object classes. Notably, the accuracy of the roof element class is only 70% with the rule-based method, or even lower with other classifiers. Most roof elements have been assigned to the roof class, as shown in the confusion matrix. These erroneous assignments are not fatal errors because both a roof and a roof element are part of a building. In addition, a new feature which indicates the average point space within the planar segment is generalised to distinguish vegetation from other classes. Its performance is compared to the percentage of points with multiple pulse count in planar segments. Using the feature computed with only average point space, the detection rate of vegetation in a rule-based classifier is 85.5%, which is 6% lower than that with pulse count information.     

Coupling high-resolution satellite imagery with ALS-based canopy height model and digital elevation model in object-based boreal forest habitat type classification

We developed a classification workflow for boreal forest habitat type mapping. In object-based image analysis framework, Fractal Net Evolution Approach segmentation was combined with random forest classification. High-resolution WorldView-2 imagery was coupled with ALS based canopy height model and digital terrain model. We calculated several features (e.g. spectral, textural and topographic) per image object from the used datasets. We tested different feature set alternatives; a classification accuracy of 78.0% was obtained when all features were used. The highest classification accuracy (79.1%) was obtained when the amount of features was reduced from the initial 328 to the 100 most important using Boruta feature selection algorithm and when ancillary soil and land-use GIS-datasets were used. Although Boruta could rank the importance of features, it could not separate unimportant features from the important ones. Classification accuracy was bit lower (78.7%) when the classification was performed separately on two areas: the areas above and below 1 m vertical distance from the nearest stream. The data split, however, improved the classification accuracy of mire habitat types and streamside habitats, probably because their proportion in the below 1 m data was higher than in the other datasets. It was found that several types of data are needed to get the highest classification accuracy whereas omitting some feature groups reduced the classification accuracy. A major habitat type in the study area was mesic forests in different successional stages. It was found that the inner heterogeneity of different mesic forest age groups was large and other habitat types were often inside this heterogeneity.     

An ontological system based on MODIS images to assess ecosystem functioning of Natura 2000 habitats: A case study for Quercus pyrenaica forests

The implementation of the Natura 2000 network requires methods to assess the conservation status of habitats. This paper shows a methodological approach that combines the use of (satellite) Earth observation with ontologies to monitor Natura 2000 habitats and assess their functioning. We have created an ontological system called Savia that can describe both the ecosystem functioning and the behaviour of abiotic factors in a Natura 2000 habitat. This system is able to automatically download images from MODIS products, create indicators and compute temporal trends for them. We have developed an ontology that takes into account the different concepts and relations about indicators and temporal trends, and the spatio-temporal components of the datasets. All the information generated from datasets and MODIS images, is stored into a knowledge base according to the ontology. Users can formulate complex questions using a SPARQL end-point. This system has been tested and validated in a case study that uses Quercus pyrenaica Willd. forests as a target habitat in Sierra Nevada (Spain), a Natura 2000 site. We assess ecosystem functioning using NDVI. The selected abiotic factor is snow cover. Savia provides useful data regarding these two variables and reflects relationships between them.     

Lightning flash mensuration using video from the space shuttle Columbia (STS‐32)

Abstract

Environmental data are often utilized to guide interpretation of spectral information based on context, however, these are also important in deriving vegetation maps themselves, especially where ecological information can be mapped spatially. A vegetation classification procedure is presented which combines a classification of spectral data from Landsat‐5 Thematic Mapper (TM) and environmental data based on topography and fire history. These data were combined utilizing fuzzy logic where assignment of each pixel to a single vegetation category was derived comparing the partial membership of each vegetation category within spectral and environmental classes. Partial membership was assigned from canopy cover for forest types measured from field sampling. Initial classification of spectral and ecological data produced map accuracies of less than 50% due to overlap between spectrally similar vegetation and limited spatial precision for predicting local vegetation types solely from the ecological information. Combination of environmental data through fuzzy logic increased overall mapping accuracy (70%) in coniferous forest communities of northwestern Montana, USA.     

Mapping post-fire forest regeneration and vegetation recovery using a combination of very high spatial resolution and hyperspectral satellite imagery

Careful evaluation of forest regeneration and vegetation recovery after a fire event provides vital information useful in land management. The use of remotely sensed data is considered to be especially suitable for monitoring ecosystem dynamics after fire. The aim of this work was to map post-fire forest regeneration and vegetation recovery on the Mediterranean island of Thasos by using a combination of very high spatial (VHS) resolution (QuickBird) and hyperspectral (EO-1 Hyperion) imagery and by employing object-based image analysis. More specifically, the work focused on (1) the separation and mapping of three major post-fire classes (forest regeneration, other vegetation recovery, unburned vegetation) existing within the fire perimeter, and (2) the differentiation and mapping of the two main forest regeneration classes, namely, Pinus brutia regeneration, and Pinus nigra regeneration. The data used in this study consisted of satellite images and field observations of homogeneous regenerated and revegetated areas. The methodology followed two main steps: a three-level image segmentation, and, a classification of the segmented images. The process resulted in the separation of classes related to the aforementioned objectives. The overall accuracy assessment revealed very promising results (approximately 83.7% overall accuracy, with a Kappa Index of Agreement of 0.79). The achieved accuracy was 8% higher when compared to the results reported in a previous work in which only the EO-1 Hyperion image was employed in order to map the same classes. Some classification confusions involving the classes of P. brutia regeneration and P. nigra regeneration were observed. This could be attributed to the absence of large and dense homogeneous areas of regenerated pine trees in the study area.     

Vegetation mapping with multitemporal NDVI in North Eastern China Transect (NECT)

Temporal changes in the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) have been widely used in vegetation mapping due to the usefulness of NDVI data in distinguishing characteristic seasonal differences in the phenology of greenness of vegetation cover. Research has also shown that NDVI provides potential to derive meaningful metrics that describe ecosystem functions. In this paper, we have applied both unsupervised “k-means” classification and supervised minimum distance classification as derived from temporal changes in NDVI measured in 1997 along the North Eastern China Transect (NECT), and we have also utilized the same two classification methods together with NDVI-derived metrics, namely maximum NDVI, mean NDVI, NDVI amplitude, NDVI threshold, total length of growing season, fraction of growing season during greenup, rate of greenup, rate of senescence, integrated NDVI during the growing season, and integrated NDVI during greenup/integrated NDVI during senescence to map vegetation. The main objectives of this study are: (1) to test the relative performance of NDVI temporal profile metrics and NDVI-derived metrics for vegetation cover discrimination in NECT; (2) to test the relative performance of unsupervised (k-means) and supervised (minimum distance) methods for vegetation mapping; (3) to test the accuracy of the IGBP-DIS released land cover map for NECT; (4) to provide an up-to-date vegetation map for NECT. The results suggest that the classifications based on NDVI temporal profile metrics have higher accuracies than those based on any other metrics, such as NDVI-derived metrics, or all (NDVI temporal profile metrics + NDVI-derived metrics), or 15 metrics (NDVI temporal profile + Rate of greenup, Rate of senescence, and Integrated NDVI in greenup/integrated NDVI in senescence) for both methods. And among them, unsupervised k-means classification had the highest overall accuracy of 52% and Kappa coefficient of 0.2057. Both unsupervised (k-means) and supervised (minimum distance) methods achieved similar accuracies for the same metrics. The accuracy of IGBP-DIS released land cover map had an overall accuracy of 37% and a Kappa coefficient is 0.1441, and can improve to 46% by decomposing the crop/natural vegetation mosaic to cropland and other natural vegetation types. The results support using unsupervised k-means classification based on NDVI temporal profile metrics to provide an up-to-date vegetation cover classification. However, new effort is necessary in the future in order to improve the overall performance on this issue.     

Monitoring Detailed Land‐Cover Changes in Shrubland Habitat Reserves Using Multi‐temporal IKONOS Data

Abstract

The objective of this study was to explore the utility of multi‐temporal, multi‐spectral image data acquired by the IKONOS satellite system for monitoring detailed land cover changes within shrubland habitat reserves. Sub‐pixel accuracy in date‐to‐date registration was achieved, in spite of the irregular relief of the study area and the high spatial resolution of the imagery. Change vector classification enabled features ranging in size from tens of square meters to several hectares to be detected and six general land cover change classes to be identified. Interpretation of the change vector classification product in conjunction with visual inspection of the multi‐temporal imagery enabled identification of specific change types such as: vegetation disturbance and associated increase in soil exposure, shrub removal, urban edge vegetation clearing and fire maintenance, increase in vegetation cover, spread of invasive plant species, fire scars and subsequent recovery, erosional scouring, trail and road development, and expansion of bicycle disturbances.     

Using information layers for mapping grassland habitat distribution at local to regional scales

The Natura 2000 network of protected sites is one of the means to enable biodiversity conservation in Europe. EU member states have to undertake surveillance of habitats and species of community interest protected under the Habitat Directive. Remote sensing techniques have been applied successfully to monitor biodiversity aspects according to Natura 2000, but many challenges remain in assessing dynamics and habitat changes outside protected sites. Grasslands are among the most threatened habitats in Europe. In this paper we tested the integration of expert knowledge into different standard classification approaches to map grassland habitats in Schleswig Holstein, Germany. Knowledge about habitat features is represented as raster information layers, and used in subsequent grassland classifications. Overall classification accuracies were highest for the maximum likelihood and support vector machine approaches using RapidEye time series, but results improved for specific grassland classes when information layers were included in the classification process.     

The effect of atmospheric and topographic correction methods on land cover classification accuracy

Mapping of vegetation in mountain areas based on remote sensing is obstructed by atmospheric and topographic distortions. A variety of atmospheric and topographic correction methods has been proposed to minimize atmospheric and topographic effects and should in principle lead to a better land cover classification. Only a limited number of atmospheric and topographic combinations has been tested and the effect on class accuracy and on different illumination conditions is not yet researched extensively. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of coupled correction methods on land cover classification accuracy. Therefore, all combinations of three atmospheric (no atmospheric correction, dark object subtraction and correction based on transmittance functions) and five topographic corrections (no topographic correction, band ratioing, cosine correction, pixel-based Minnaert and pixel-based C-correction) were applied on two acquisitions (2009 and 2010) of a Landsat image in the Romanian Carpathian mountains. The accuracies of the fifteen resulting land cover maps were evaluated statistically based on two validation sets: a random validation set and a validation subset containing pixels present in the difference area between the uncorrected classification and one of the fourteen corrected classifications. New insights into the differences in classification accuracy were obtained. First, results showed that all corrected images resulted in higher overall classification accuracies than the uncorrected images. The highest accuracy for the full validation set was achieved after combination of an atmospheric correction based on transmittance functions and a pixel-based Minnaert topographic correction. Secondly, class accuracies of especially the coniferous and mixed forest classes were enhanced after correction. There was only a minor improvement for the other land cover classes (broadleaved forest, bare soil, grass and water). This was explained by the position of different land cover types in the landscape. Finally, coupled correction methods showed most efficient on weakly illuminated slopes. After correction, accuracies in the low illumination zone (cos β ≤ 0.65) were improved more than in the moderate and high illumination zones. Considering all results, best overall classification results were achieved after combination of the transmittance function correction with pixel-based Minnaert or pixel-based C-topographic correction. Furthermore, results of this bi-temporal study indicated that the topographic component had a higher influence on classification accuracy than the atmospheric component and that it is worthwhile to invest in both atmospheric and topographic corrections in a multi-temporal study.     

Texture-based classification of sub-Antarctic vegetation communities on Heard Island

This study was the first to use high-resolution IKONOS imagery to classify vegetation communities on sub-Antarctic Heard Island. We focused on the use of texture measures, in addition to standard multispectral information, to improve the classification of sub-Antarctic vegetation communities. Heard Island’s pristine and rapidly changing environment makes it a relevant and exciting location to study the regional effects of climate change. This study uses IKONOS imagery to provide automated, up-to-date, and non-invasive means to map vegetation as an important indicator for environmental change. Three classification techniques were compared: multispectral classification, texture based classification, and a combination of both. Texture features were calculated using the Grey Level Co-occurrence Matrix (GLCM). We investigated the effect of the texture window size on classification accuracy. The combined approach produced a higher accuracy than using multispectral bands alone. It was also found that the selection of GLCM texture features is critical. The highest accuracy (85%) was produced using all original spectral bands and three uncorrelated texture features. Incorporating texture improved classification accuracy by 6%.     

Stochastic gradient boosting classification trees for forest fuel types mapping through airborne laser scanning and IRS LISS-III imagery

This paper presents an application of Airborne Laser Scanning (ALS) data in conjunction with an IRS LISS-III image for mapping forest fuel types. For two study areas of 165 km² and 487 km² in Sicily (Italy), 16,761 plots of size 30-m × 30-m were distributed using a tessellation-based stratified sampling scheme. ALS metrics and spectral signatures from IRS extracted for each plot were used as predictors to classify forest fuel types observed and identified by photointerpretation and fieldwork. Following use of traditional parametric methods that produced unsatisfactory results, three non-parametric classification approaches were tested: (i) classification and regression tree (CART), (ii) the CART bagging method called Random Forests, and (iii) the CART bagging/boosting stochastic gradient boosting (SGB) approach. This contribution summarizes previous experiences using ALS data for estimating forest variables useful for fire management in general and for fuel type mapping, in particular. It summarizes characteristics of classification and regression trees, presents the pre-processing operation, the classification algorithms, and the achieved results. The results demonstrated superiority of the SGB method with overall accuracy of 84%. The most relevant ALS metric was canopy cover, defined as the percent of non-ground returns. Other relevant metrics included the spectral information from IRS and several other ALS metrics such as percentiles of the height distribution, the mean height of all returns, and the number of returns.     

Classification of forest land attributes using multi-source remotely sensed data

The aim of the study was to (1) examine the classification of forest land using airborne laser scanning (ALS) data, satellite images and sample plots of the Finnish National Forest Inventory (NFI) as training data and to (2) identify best performing metrics for classifying forest land attributes. Six different schemes of forest land classification were studied: land use/land cover (LU/LC) classification using both national classes and FAO (Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations) classes, main type, site type, peat land type and drainage status. Special interest was to test different ALS-based surface metrics in classification of forest land attributes. Field data consisted of 828 NFI plots collected in 2008–2012 in southern Finland and remotely sensed data was from summer 2010. Multinomial logistic regression was used as the classification method. Classification of LU/LC classes were highly accurate (kappa-values 0.90 and 0.91) but also the classification of site type, peat land type and drainage status succeeded moderately well (kappa-values 0.51, 0.69 and 0.52). ALS-based surface metrics were found to be the most important predictor variables in classification of LU/LC class, main type and drainage status. In best classification models of forest site types both spectral metrics from satellite data and point cloud metrics from ALS were used. In turn, in the classification of peat land types ALS point cloud metrics played the most important role. Results indicated that the prediction of site type and forest land category could be incorporated into stand level forest management inventory system in Finland.     

Effectiveness of SID as Spectral Similarity Measure to Develop Crop Spectra from Hyperspectral Image

The present study was undertaken with the objective to check effectiveness of spectral information divergence (SID) to develop spectra from image for crop classes based on spectral similarity with field spectra. In multispectral and hyperspectral remote sensing, classification of pixels is obtained by statistical comparison (by means of spectral similarity) of known field or library spectra to unknown image spectra. Though these algorithms are readily used, little emphasis has been placed on use of various spectral similarity measures to develop crop spectra from the image itself. Hence, in this study methodology suggested to develop spectra for crops based on SID. Absorption features are unique and distinct; hence, validation of the developed spectra is carried out using absorption features by comparing it with field spectra and finding average correlation coefficient r?=?0.982 and computed SID equivalent r?=?0.989. Effectiveness of developed spectra for image classification was computed by probability of spectral discrimination (PSD) and resulted in higher probability for the spectra developed based on SID. Image classification was carried out using field spectra and spectra assigned by SID. Overall classification accuracy of the image classified by field spectra is 78.30% and for the image classified by spectra assigned through SID-based approach is 91.82%. Z test shows that image classification carried out using spectra developed by SID is better than classification carried out using field spectra and significantly different. Validation by absorption features, effectiveness by PSD and higher classification accuracy show possibility of new approach for spectra development based on SID spectral similarity measure.     

Mapping Wildfire Burn Severity in Southern California Forests and Shrublands Using Enhanced Thematic Mapper Imagery

Abstract

Wildfire is a major disturbance agent in Mediterranean Type Ecosystems (MTEs). Providing reliable, quantitative information on the area of burns and the level of damage caused is therefore important both for guiding resource management and global change monitoring. Previous studies have successfully mapped burn severity using remote sensing, but reliable accuracy has yet to be gained using standard methods over different vegetation types. The objective of this research was to classify burn severity across several vegetation types using Landsat ETM imagery in two areas affected by wildfire in southern California in June 1999. Spectral mixture analysis (SMA) using four reference endmembers (vegetation, soil, shade, non‐photosynthetic vegetation) and a single (charcoal‐ash) image endmember were used to enhance imagery prior to burn severity classification using decision trees. SMA provided a robust technique for enhancing fire‐affected areas due to its ability to extract sub‐pixel information and minimize the effects of topography on single date satellite data. Overall kappa classification accuracy results were high (0.71 and 0.85, respectively) for the burned areas, using five canopy consumption classes. Individual severity class accuracies ranged from 0.5 to 0.94.     

Analysis of full-waveform LiDAR data for classification of an orange orchard scene

Full-waveform laser scanning data acquired with a Riegl LMS-Q560 instrument were used to classify an orange orchard into orange trees, grass and ground using waveform parameters alone. Gaussian decomposition was performed on this data capture from the National Airborne Field Experiment in November 2006 using a custom peak-detection procedure and a trust-region-reflective algorithm for fitting Gauss functions. Calibration was carried out using waveforms returned from a road surface, and the backscattering coefficient γ was derived for every waveform peak. The processed data were then analysed according to the number of returns detected within each waveform and classified into three classes based on pulse width and γ. For single-peak waveforms the scatterplot of γ versus pulse width was used to distinguish between ground, grass and orange trees. In the case of multiple returns, the relationship between first (or first plus middle) and last return γ values was used to separate ground from other targets. Refinement of this classification, and further sub-classification into grass and orange trees was performed using the γ versus pulse width scatterplots of last returns. In all cases the separation was carried out using a decision tree with empirical relationships between the waveform parameters. Ground points were successfully separated from orange tree points. The most difficult class to separate and verify was grass, but those points in general corresponded well with the grass areas identified in the aerial photography. The overall accuracy reached 91%, using photography and relative elevation as ground truth. The overall accuracy for two classes, orange tree and combined class of grass and ground, yielded 95%. Finally, the backscattering coefficient γ of single-peak waveforms was also used to derive reflectance values of the three classes. The reflectance of the orange tree class (0.31) and ground class (0.60) are consistent with published values at the wavelength of the Riegl scanner (1550 nm). The grass class reflectance (0.46) falls in between the other two classes as might be expected, as this class has a mixture of the contributions of both vegetation and ground reflectance properties.     

Evaluation of Landsat TM data for forest cover type and landuse classification in subtropical forests of Kumaon Himalaya (U.P.)

LANDSAT-TM has been evaluated for forest cover type and landuse classification in subtropical forests of Kumaon Himalaya (U.P.) Comparative evaluation of false colour composite generated by using various band combinations has been made. Digital image processing of Landsat-TM data on VIPS-32 RRSSC computer system has been carried out to stratify vegetation types. Conventional band combination in false colour composite is Bands 2, 3 and 4 in Red/Green/Blue sequence of Landsat TM for landuse classification. The present study however suggests that false colour combination using Landsat TM bands viz., 4, 5 and 3 in Red/Green/Blue sequence is the most suitable for visual interpretation of various forest cover types and landuse classes. It is felt that to extract full information from increased spatial and spectral resolution of Landsat TM, it is necessary to process the data digitally to classify land cover features like vegetation. Supervised classification using maximum likelihood algorithm has been attemped to stratify the forest vegetation. Only four bands are sufficient enough to classify vegetaton types. These bands are 2,3,4 and 5. The classification results were smoothed digitaly to increase the readiability of the map. Finally, the classification carred out using digital technique were evaluated using systematic sampling design. It is observed that forest cover type mapping can be achieved upto 80% overall mapping accuracy. Monospecies stand Chirpine can be mapped in two density classes viz., dense pine (<40%) with more than 90% accuracy. Poor accuracy (66%) was observed while mapping pine medium dense areas. The digital smoothening reduced the overall mapping accuracy. Conclusively, Landsat-TM can be used as operatonal sensor for forest cover type mapping even in complex landuse-terrain of Kumaon Himalaya (U.P.)     

Mapping of tropical dry deciduous forest and landuse in part of Vindhyan range using satellite remote sensing

Forest vegetation of Vindhyan range located in the north of G.B. Pant Sagar (dam) has been subjected to degradation due to high biotic pressure caused by the installation of thermal power plants, coal mining, heavy cattle grazing etc. In the present study Landsat TM FCC of 1∶250,000 scale was visually analysed with respect to forest vegetation types, crown density and structure along with other landuse/land cover classes. ExceptShorea robusta (Sal) andLagerstroemia parviflora (Lendia) all forest vegetation types show higher percentage of degradation and under-stocked condition with respect to their areal extent under study. Overall classification accuracy of the forest types has been found to be 88.94%. This indicates that for obtaining reliable mapping accuracy in dry deciduous areas, satellite remote sensing data of appropriate season is essential.

     

Combined use of LiDAR data and multispectral earth observation imagery for wetland habitat mapping

Although wetlands play a key role in controlling flooding and nonpoint source pollution, sequestering carbon and providing an abundance of ecological services, the inventory and characterization of wetland habitats are most often limited to small areas. This explains why the understanding of their ecological functioning is still insufficient for a reliable functional assessment on areas larger than a few hectares. While LiDAR data and multispectral Earth Observation (EO) images are often used separately to map wetland habitats, their combined use is currently being assessed for different habitat types. The aim of this study is to evaluate the combination of multispectral and multiseasonal imagery and LiDAR data to precisely map the distribution of wetland habitats. The image classification was performed combining an object-based approach and decision-tree modeling. Four multispectral images with high (SPOT-5) and very high spatial resolution (Quickbird, KOMPSAT-2, aerial photographs) were classified separately. Another classification was then applied integrating summer and winter multispectral image data and three layers derived from LiDAR data: vegetation height, microtopography and intensity return. The comparison of classification results shows that some habitats are better identified on the winter image and others on the summer image (overall accuracies = 58.5 and 57.6%). They also point out that classification accuracy is highly improved (overall accuracy = 86.5%) when combining LiDAR data and multispectral images. Moreover, this study highlights the advantage of integrating vegetation height, microtopography and intensity parameters in the classification process. This article demonstrates that information provided by the synergetic use of multispectral images and LiDAR data can help in wetland functional assessment     

Classifying historical remotely sensed imagery using a tempo-spatial feature evolution (T-SFE) model

Large and growing archives of orbital imagery of the earth’s surface collected over the past 40 years provide an important resource for documenting past and current land cover and environmental changes. However uses of these data are limited by the lack of coincident ground information with which either to establish discrete land cover classes or to assess the accuracy of their identification. Herein is proposed an easy-to-use model, the Tempo-Spatial Feature Evolution (T-SFE) model, designed to improve land cover classification using historical remotely sensed data and ground cover maps obtained at later times. This model intersects (1) a map of spectral classes (S-classes) of an initial time derived from the standard unsupervised ISODATA classifier with (2) a reference map of ground cover types (G-types) of a subsequent time to generate (3) a target map of overlaid patches of S-classes and G-types. This model employs the rules of Count Majority Evaluation, and Subtotal Area Evaluation that are formulated on the basis of spatial feature evolution over time to quantify spatial evolutions between the S-classes and G-types on the target map. This model then applies these quantities to assign G-types to S-classes to classify the historical images. The model is illustrated with the classification of grassland vegetation types for a basin in Inner Mongolia using 1985 Landsat TM data and 2004 vegetation map. The classification accuracy was assessed through two tests: a small set of ground sampling data in 1985, and an extracted vegetation map from the national vegetation cover data (NVCD) over the study area in 1988. Our results show that a 1985 image classification was achieved using this method with an overall accuracy of 80.6%. However, the classification accuracy depends on a proper calibration of several parameters used in the model.     

Application of Spectral and Environmental Variables to Map the Kissimmee Prairie Ecosystem Using Classification Trees

This paper compares a variety of classification tree-based approaches to map 10 vegetation cover classes and a single built-up class in the Kissimmee Prairie Ecosystem, an endangered grass-shrubland landscape in south-central Florida (USA). This comparison is provided to identify an effective and replicable mapping methodology and facilitate the ongoing regional-scale management and monitoring of grass-shrubland ecosystems. Results showed that the best-performing models included environmental variables, due to the ability of these variables to help distinguish spectrally similar classes. The highest overall proportional accuracy of 81% was the result of incorporating linear spectral mixture analysis and geo-environmental variables into the classification tree.