Spectral signature generalization and expansion can improve the accuracy of satellite image classification

cg.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0010516en
cg.issn1932-6203en
cg.issue5en
cg.journalPLOS ONEen
cg.numbere10516en
cg.volume5en
dc.contributor.authorLaborte, Alice G.en
dc.contributor.authorMaunahan, Aileen A.en
dc.contributor.authorHijmans, Robert J.en
dc.date.accessioned2024-12-19T12:55:47Zen
dc.date.available2024-12-19T12:55:47Zen
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10568/166056
dc.titleSpectral signature generalization and expansion can improve the accuracy of satellite image classificationen
dcterms.abstractConventional supervised classification of satellite images uses a single multi-band image and coincident ground observations to construct spectral signatures of land cover classes. We compared this approach with three alternatives that derive signatures from multiple images and time periods: (1) signature generalization: spectral signatures are derived from multiple images within one season, but perhaps from different years; (2) signature expansion: spectral signatures are created with data from images acquired during different seasons of the same year; and (3) combinations of expansion and generalization. Using data for northern Laos, we assessed the quality of these different signatures to (a) classify the images used to derive the signature, and (b) for use in temporal signature extension, i.e., applying a signature obtained from data of one or several years to images from other years. When applying signatures to the images they were derived from, signature expansion improved accuracy relative to the conventional method, and variability in accuracy declined markedly. In contrast, signature generalization did not improve classification. When applying signatures to images of other years (temporal extension), the conventional method, using a signature derived from a single image, resulted in very low classification accuracy. Signature expansion also performed poorly but multi-year signature generalization performed much better and this appears to be a promising approach in the temporal extension of spectral signatures for satellite image classification.en
dcterms.accessRightsOpen Access
dcterms.available2010-05-06
dcterms.bibliographicCitationLaborte, Alice G.; Maunahan, Aileen A. and Hijmans, Robert J. 2010. Spectral signature generalization and expansion can improve the accuracy of satellite image classification. PLoS ONE, Volume 5 no. 5 p. e10516en
dcterms.issued2010-05-06
dcterms.languageen
dcterms.licenseCC-BY-4.0
dcterms.publisherPublic Library of Scienceen
dcterms.subjectland classificationen
dcterms.subjectland useen
dcterms.subjectlandsaten
dcterms.subjectsatellite imageryen
dcterms.subjectthematic mapperen
dcterms.subjectlaosen
dcterms.typeJournal Article

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