Segmentation-Based urban land cover mapping from kompsat eoc images

High resolution panchromatic satellite images collected by sensors such as IRS-1C/D and KOMSAT-1 have a spatial resolution of approximately 6 x 6 m², making them very attractive for urban applications. However, the spetctral information present in these images is very limited. In order to overcome this limitation, an object-oriented classification approach is used to identify basic land cover types in urban areas. Before an image can be classified it is segmented at different aggregation levels using a multiresolution segmentation approach. In the course of this segmentation various statistical as well as topological information is collected for each segment. Based on this information it is possible to classify image objects and to arrive at much better results than by looking only at single pixels. Using an image recorded by KOMPSAT-1 over the City of Vienna a land cover classification was carried out for two areas. One was used to set up the rules for the different land cover types. The second subset was classified based on these rules, only adjusting some of the functions governing the classification process.