Superresolution mapping using a Hopfield neural network with LIDAR data

Superresolution mapping is a set of techniques to obtain a subpixel map from land cover proportion images produced by soft classification. Together with the information from the land cover proportion images, supplementary information at the subpixel level can be used to produce more detailed and accurate land cover maps. This research aims to use the elevation data from light detection and ranging (LIDAR) as an additional source of information for superresolution mapping using the Hopfield neural network (HNN). A new height function was added to the energy function of the HNN for superresolution mapping. The value of the height function was calculated for each subpixel of a certain class based on the Gaussian distribution. A set of simulated data was used to test the new technique. The results suggest that 0.8-m spatial resolution digital surface models can be combined with optical data at 4-m spatial resolution for superresolution mapping.