MULTIRESOLUTION SEGMENTATION FOR EXTRACTING PLASTIC GREENHOUSES FROM DEIMOS-2 IMAGERY

Accurate greenhouse mapping can support environment monitoring and resource management. In an object-based image analysis (OBIA) approach focused on plastic covered greenhouses (PCG) classification, the segmentation is a crucial step for the goodness of the final results. Multiresolution segmentation (MRS) is one of the most used algorithms in OBIA approaches, being greatly enabled by the advent of the commercial software eCognition. Therefore, in addition to the segmentation algorithm used, it is very important to count on tools to assess the quality of segmentation results from digital images in order to obtain the most similar segments to the real PCG objects. In this work, several factors affecting MRS such as the type of input image and the best MRS parameters (i.e., scale, compactness and shape), have been analysed. In this regard, more than 2800 segmentations focused on PCG land cover were conducted from four pre-processed Deimos-2 very high-resolution (VHR) satellite orthoimages taken in the Southeast of Spain (Almeria). Specifically, one multispectral and one pansharpened Deimos-2 orthoimages, both with and without atmospheric correction were tested in this work. The free access AssesSeg command line tool, based on a modified version of the supervised discrepancy measure named Euclidean Distance 2 (ED2), was used to determine the best MRS parameters for all the VHR satellite images. According to both the supervised discrepancy measure ED2 and visual perception, the best segmentation on PCG was obtained over the atmospherically corrected pansharpened Deimos-2 orthoimage, achieving very good results.

Automated summary

Accurate greenhouse mapping is crucial for environment monitoring and resource management. This study focuses on the object-based image analysis approach for plastic covered greenhouses (PCG) classification, with the emphasis on the segmentation step. The researchers analyzed various factors affecting the segmentation algorithm and conducted multiple segmentations using high-resolution satellite images. The results showed that the atmospherically corrected pansharpened orthoimage achieved the best segmentation performance for PCG.