GENERATION OF 2D LAND COVER MAPS FOR URBAN AREAS USING DECISION TREE CLASSIFICATION

Abstract. A 2D land cover map can automatically and efficiently be generated from high-resolution multispectral aerial images. First, a digital surface model is produced and each cell of the elevation model is then supplemented with attributes. A decision tree classification is applied to extract map objects like buildings, roads, grassland, trees, hedges, and walls from such an "intelligent" point cloud. The decision tree is derived from training areas which borders are digitized on top of a false-colour orthoimage. The produced 2D land cover map with six classes is then subsequently refined by using image analysis techniques. The proposed methodology is described step by step. The classification, assessment, and refinement is carried out by the open source software "R"; the generation of the dense and accurate digital surface model by the "Match-T DSM" program of the Trimble Company. A practical example of a 2D land cover map generation is carried out. Images of a multispectral medium-format aerial camera covering an urban area in Switzerland are used. The assessment of the produced land cover map is based on class-wise stratified sampling where reference values of samples are determined by means of stereo-observations of false-colour stereopairs. The stratified statistical assessment of the produced land cover map with six classes and based on 91 points per class reveals a high thematic accuracy for classes "building" (99 %, 95 % CI: 95 %-100 %) and "road and parking lot" (90 %, 95 % CI: 83 %-95 %). Some other accuracy measures (overall accuracy, kappa value) and their 95 % confidence intervals are derived as well. The proposed methodology has a high potential for automation and fast processing and may be applied to other scenes and sensors. </jats:p

Automated mapping of building facades by machine learning

Facades of buildings contain various types of objects which have to be recorded for information systems. The article describes a solution for this task focussing on automated classification by means of machine learning techniques. Stereo pairs of oblique images are used to derive 3D point clouds of buildings. The planes of the buildings are automatically detected. The derived planes are supplemented with a regular grid of points for which the colour values are found in the images. For each grid point of the façade additional attributes are derived from image and object data. This "intelligent" point cloud is analysed by a decision tree, which is derived from a small training set. The derived decision tree is then used to classify the complete point cloud. To each point of the regular façade grid a class is assigned and a façade plan is mapped by a colour palette representing the different objects. Some image processing methods are applied to improve the appearance of the interpreted façade plot and to extract additional information. The proposed method is tested on facades of a church. Accuracy measures were derived from 140 independent checkpoints, which were randomly selected. When selecting four classes ("window", "stone work", "painted wall", and "vegetation") the overall accuracy is assessed with 80 % (95 % Confidence Interval: 71 %&ndash;88 %). The user accuracy of class “stonework” was assessed with 90 % (95 % CI: 80 %&ndash;97 %). The proposed methodology has a high potential for automation and fast processing