Figure 5c: Image segmentation (Level 1, scale: 100)
The classes created were built-up area, road (for
identifying the larger roads that were not included in the
built-up area), bare ground or sand, vegetation and water.
Samples were selected for each class, and the image was
classified using the Nearest Neighbour (NN) method. A
large scale parameter was chosen for classifying the
image in order to adequately represent the large built-up
areas. The following features were used in the NN
International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences, Volume XXXIX-B7, 2012
XXII ISPRS Congress, 25 August — 01 September 2012, Melbourne, Australia
classification: mean values for red, green, blue and near
infrared, brightness, maximum difference, compactness,
length, length/width, HSI transformation, NDVI, GLCM
mean (quick 8/11) (all dir.) and GLDV Ang. 2"! moment
mean (quick 8/11) (all dir.).
Figure 6: Object-based classification using the Nearest
Neighbour method
The classification results indicate that there is some
confusion between certain classes, particularly where
there are segments that contain more than one feature.
This is a typical problem where large segments contain
more than one feature class. On the contrary, smaller
segments may represent individual features more easily,
but the spectral differences within classes may result in
the user having numerous sub-classes for features.
Class name Producers Users KIA per
accuracy accuracy class
Built-up 0.57 0.80 0.48
Road 1.00 1.00 1.00
Vegetation 0.71 0.56 0.59
Water 1.00 1.00 1.00
Bare ground or 0.50 0.50 0.46
sand
Overall accuracy 0.79
KIA 0.73
Table 2: Accuracy assessment and kappa statistics for
object-based classification (segments based on only
spectral information)
Using vector data and spectral information for
segmentation
In order to overcome the problem of having unsuitable
segments such as those that spanned across roads or that
contained mixed classes, vector data was included in
order to segment the image based on cadastral
information (information maintained and supplied by the
Office of the Chief Surveyor General in South Africa).
The initial segmentation was performed using the
thematic layer to create segments at the cadastral layer
level.