Urban Vegetation Mapping Using Remote Sensing Techniques : A Comparison of Methods

The aim of this study is to compare remote sensing methods in the context of a vegetation mapping of an urban environment. The methods used was (1) a traditional per-pixel based method; maximum likelihood supervised classification (ENVI), (2) a standard object based method; example based feature ext...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Palm, Fredrik
Format: Others
Language:English
Published: Stockholms universitet, Institutionen för naturgeografi 2015
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Online Access:http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:su:diva-117108
Description
Summary:The aim of this study is to compare remote sensing methods in the context of a vegetation mapping of an urban environment. The methods used was (1) a traditional per-pixel based method; maximum likelihood supervised classification (ENVI), (2) a standard object based method; example based feature extraction (ENVI) and (3) a newly developed method; Window Independent Contextual Segmentation (WICS) (Choros Cognition). A four-band SPOT5 image with a pixel size of 10x10m was used for the classifications. A validation data-set was created using a ortho corrected aerial image with a pixel size of 1x1m. Error matrices was created by cross-tabulating the classified images with the validation data-set. From the error matrices, overall accuracy and kappa coefficient was calculated. The object-based method performed best with a overall accuracy of 80% and a kappa value of 0.6, followed by the WICS method with an overall accuracy of 77% and a kappa value of 0.53, placing the supervised classification last with an overall accuracy of 71% and a kappa value of 0.38. The results of this study suggests object-based method and WICS to perform better than the supervised classification in an urban environment.