Remote Sensing Week 2: Land Use/Land Cover Classification

For this week's lab, we created a land use/land cover map of an area in Pascagoula, MS from an aerial photo. We classified based on Level II of the USGS Land Use/Land Cover Classification System. I then generated 30 random sample points within this area and used Google Street View to assess to the best of my ability whether my classifications were correct. Based on these sample points, I calculated my overall accuracy to be 73.3%. Quite a few of my mistakes were due to me not knowing the USGS definition of class 54, Bays and Estuaries, and incorrectly classifying rivers or streams in this class. Although this is not reflected much in my sample points, I also had trouble distinguishing between commercial and industrial uses based solely on the aerial photo.

Although this lab was pretty time-consuming, I enjoyed the process of classification and would like to learn more about it, especially since it is relevant to my interest in urban planning!


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