IMAGE CLASSIFICATION

Chapter 12

 Introduction
 Digital image classification: The process of assigning pixels to classes
 By comparing pixels to one another and to pixels of known identity, it is possible to assemble groups
of similar pixels into classes that are associated with informational categories of interest
 Classifier: A computer program that implements a specific procedure for image classification
 It isn’t possible to state that a given classifier is “best” for all situations because the characteristics of
each image and the circumstances for each study vary greatly
 Point Classification: Each pixel is considered individually, assigning it to a class based on its several
values measured in separate spectral bands. Point classifiers are simple and economic, but aren’t
capable of exploiting the information contained in relationships between each pixel and those that
neighbor it
 Spatial/Neighborhood Classification: Consider groups of pixels within their spatial setting within the
image as a means of using the textural information important for the human interpreter. Spatial
classifiers examine small areas within the image using both spectral & textural information to classify
the image
 Supervised Classification: Requires considerable interaction with the analyst, who must guide the
classification by identifying areas on the image that are known to belong to each category
 Unsupervised Classification: Proceeds with only minimal interaction with the analyst in a search for
natural groups of pixels present within the image
 Informational & Spectral Classes
 Informational classes: Categories of interest to data users
 Texture: The uniformity of pixels within a small neighborhood
 Spectral classes: Groups of pixels that are uniform with respect to the brightnesses in their several
spectral channels
 Remote sensing proceeds by matching spectral categories to informational categories
 Spectral subclass: Spectrally distinct groups of pixels that together may be assembled to form an
informational class
 A crude measure of the distinctiveness of 2 classes is simply the difference in the mean values
 Normalized Difference: Found by dividing the difference in class means by the sum of their standard
deviations
 Some pairs of categories are very distinct relative to others. Some spectral channels are much more
effective than others in separating categories from one another
 Unsupervised Classification
 Advantages: 1) No extensive prior knowledge of the region is required, 2) Opportunity for human
error is minimized and 3) Unique classes are recognized as distinct units
 Disadvantages: 1) Identifies spectrally homogenous classes within the data that don’t necessarily
correspond to the informational categories that are of interest to the analyst, 2) Analyst has limited
control over the menu of classes and their specific identities and 3) Spectral properties of specific
informational classes will change over time
 Unsupervised classification proceeds by making thousands of distance calculations as a means of
determining similarities for the many pixels and groups within an image. Nonetheless, distance
measures are the heart of unsupervised classification
 L1 distance: The sum of the absolute differences between values in individual bands
 Unsupervised classification often proceeds in an interactive fashion to search for an optimal
allocation of pixels to categories, given the constraints specified by the analyst. The analyst may be
required to specify limits on the number of clusters to be generated, to constrain the diversity of
 values within classes, or to require that classes exhibit a specified minimum degree of distinctness
with respect to neighboring groups
 Sequence for Unsupervised Classification
 1) Analyst specifies minimum and maximum number of categories to be generated by the
classification algorithm
 2) Algorithm arbitrarily selects pixels as cluster centers
 3) Algorithm then finds distances between pixels and forms initial estimates of cluster centers as
permitted by constraints specified by the analyst
 4) The class can be represented by a single point known as the class centroid (the center of a cluster)
 5) Algorithm finds new centroids for each class, as the addition of new pixels means that initial
centroids are no longer accurate
 6) The step above repeats until there remains no significant change detected in the locations of class
centroids and the classes meet all constraints required by the operator
 Key components of any unsupervised classification algorithm are effective methods of measuring
distances in data space, identifying class centroids and testing the distinctness of classes
 Often, however, spectral classes do not match directly to informational classes. In some instances,
informational classes may occur in complex mixtures and arrangements.
 Because of spectral diversity, even nominally uniform informational classes may manifest themselves
as a set of spectral classes. A forest patch may be recorded as several spectral clusters, due perhaps
to variations in density, age, aspect, shadowing and other factors
 A serious practical problem with unsupervised classification is that clear matches between spectral
and informational classes aren’t always possible
 If unsupervised classification is to be used, it may be difficult to generate the same sets of
informational categories on both images
 Supervised Classification
 The analyst defines training areas by identifying regions on the image that can be clearly matched to
areas of known identity on the image. Such areas should typify spectral properties of the categories
they represent, and of course, must be homogenous with respect to the informational category to be
classified
 Advantages: 1) The analyst has control of a selected menu of informational categories tailored to a
specific purpose and geographic region, 2) SC is tied to specific areas of known identity, determined
through the process of selecting training areas, 3) The analyst is not faced with the problem of
matching spectral categories on the final map with the informational categories of interest, 4) The
operator may be able to detect serious errors in classification by examining training data to determine
whether they have been correctly classified by the procedure
 Disadvantages: 1) The analyst imposes a classification structure on the data. These operator-defined
classes may not match the natural classes that exist within the data, and therefore may not be distinct
or well-defined in multidimensional data space, 2) Training data are often defined primarily with
reference to informational categories and only secondarily with reference to spectral properties, 3)
Training data selected by the analyst may not be representative of conditions encountered
throughout the image, 4) Conscientious selection of training data can be time-consuming, expensive
and tedious and 5) SC may not be able to recognize and represent special or unique categories not
represented in the training data
 Training Data
 Training fields: Areas of known identity delineated on the digital image, usually by specifying the
corner points of a square or rectangular area using line and column numbers within the coordinate
system of the digital image
 Key characteristics of Training Areas: Numbers of pixels, Size, Shape, Location, Number, Placement
and Uniformity
 As a general guideline, the operator should ensure that several individual training areas for each
category provide a total of at least 100 pixels for each category
 Small training fields are difficult to locate accurately on the image
 Individual training fields should also not be too big, as large areas tend to include undesirable
variation. Joyce (1978) recommends that individual training areas be at least 4 ha in size at the
absolute minimum and preferably include 16 ha.
 Usually, it is easiest to define square or rectangular areas; such shapes minimize the number of
vertices that must be specified
 Training areas must be positioned in locations that favor accurate and convenient transfer of their
outlines from maps and aerial photos to the digital image. As the training data are intended to
represent variation within the image, they must not be clustered in favored regions of the image that
may not typify conditions encountered throughout the image as a whole
 It is usually better to define many (5-10 at a minimum) small training areas than to use only a few
large areas
 Training areas should be placed within the image in a manner that permits convenient and accurate
location with respect to distinctive features
 Data within each training area should exhibit a unimodal frequency distribution for each spectral
band to be used
 Training data provide values that estimate the means, variances and covariances of spectral data
measured in several spectral channels
 If training samples are selected randomly within classes, rather than as blocks of contiguous pixels,
effects of high similarity are minimized, and classification accuracies improve
 Supervised Classification Methods
 Parallelepiped Classification
 The spectral values of unclassified pixels are projected into data space; those that fall within the
regions defined by the training data are assigned to the appropriate categories
 Defined polygons represent regions in data space that are assigned to categories in the classification.
As pixels of unknown identity are considered for classification, those that fall within these regions
are assigned to categories associated with each polygon
 Advantages: accuracy, directness and simplicity
 Disadvantages: 1) Spectral regions for informational categories may intersect, 2) Training data may
underestimate actual ranges of classification and leave large areas in data space, 3) Regions as defined
in data space are not uniformly occupied by pixels in each category; edge pixels may belong to other
classes, 4) If training data do not encompass the complete range of values encountered in the image,
large areas of the image remain unclassified
 Minimum Distance Classification
 Each cluster is represented by its centroid, often defined as its mean value. As unassigned pixels are
considered for assignment to one of the several classes, the multidimensional distance to each cluster
centroid is calculated, and the pixel is then assigned to the closest cluster
 Advantage: Direct in concept and implementation
 Disadvantages: 1) Inaccuracy, 2) There is no provision for accommodating differences in class
variability, and some classes may overlap at their edges
 ISODATA
 Steps: 1) Choose initial estimates of class means, 2) All other pixels are assigned to the closest mean,
3) Class means are recomputed to include effects of pixels that may have been reassigned in step 2,
4) If any class mean changes in value from step 2 to 3, the process returns to step 2
 Maximum Likelihood Classification
 Variability is added by haze, topographic shadowing, system noise and mixed pixels
 MLC uses the training data as a means of estimating means and variances of the classes, which are
then used to estimate probabilities. MLC considers not only the mean in assigning classification, but
also the variability of brightness values in each class
 Advantage: Powerful
 Disadvantage: 1) Requires intensive calculation, 2) Sensitive to variations in training data quality
 Sequence for Supervised Classification:
 1) Prepare the menu of categories to be mapped
 2) Select and define training data
 3) Modify categories and training fields as necessary to define homogenous training data
 4) Conduct classification
 5) Evaluate classification performance
 Ancillary Data: Data acquired by means other than remote sensing that are used to assist in the
classification or analysis of remotely sensed data
 Fuzzy Clustering: Assigns membership to pixels based on a membership function; able to assign
partial membership to a class
 Membership functions for classes are determined either by general relationships or by definitional
rules describing the relationships between data and classes
 Artificial Neural Networks: Computer programs that are designed to simulate human learning
processes through establishment and reinforcement of linkages between input and output data
 ANNs have 3 layers: input layer, output layer and back propagation
 Input layer: Consists of the source data, which are multispectral observations in several bands and
dates
 ANNs are designed to work with large volumes of data
 Output later: Consists of classes required by the analyst
 The process will be most reliable when the number of output labels is small with respect to the
number of input channels
 During the training phase, an ANN establishes an association between input and output data by
establishing weights within one or more hidden layers
 Back Propagation: A retrospective examination of the links between input & output data in which
differences between expected and actual results can be used to adjust weights
 Transfer functions: Quantitative relationships between input and output layers that assign weights
to emphasize effective links between input and output layers
 Object-oriented classification: Two-step process that applies a logic intended to mimic some of
the higher order logic employed by human interpreters, who can use sizes, shapes and textures of
regions, as well as the spectral characteristics used for conventional pixel-based classification
 Segmentation (Step 1): Identification of the edges of homogenous patches that subdivide the image
into interlocking regions
 Segmentation is implemented hierarchically – regions are defined at several scales that nest within
each other. The regions are the objects of object-oriented classification; they, rather than individual
pixels, form the entities to be classified. Regions, unlike pixels, have many properties, including
standard deviations, minima and maxima. Object-oriented classification can also consider distinctive
topological class properties
 Classification (Step 2): Each object or region is characterized by the numerous properties developed
as a result of the segmentation process that can then be used in classification