Description and Evaluation Approach for Uncertainty of RS Images Classi- fication

With the development of researches on the classification quality of remote sensing images, researchers thought that uncertainty is the main factor that influences classification quality. This study puts forward an approach to uncertainty repre- sentation, which is developed from two aspects： formalized description and comprehensive evaluation. First, we complete the classification using fuzzy surveillance approach, taking it as a formalized description of classification uncertainty. Then we in- troduce a hybrid entropy model for classification uncertainty evaluation, which can meet the requirement of comprehensive reflection of several uncertainties, while constructing the evaluation index from pixel scale with the full consideration of the different contribution to the error rate of each pixel. Finally, an application example will be studied to examine the new method. The result shows that the evaluation results fully reflect the classification quality, when compared with the conventional evaluation method which constructs models from unitary uncertainty and category scale.

A quantitative performance comparison of paddy rice acreage estimation using stratified sampling strategies with different stratification indicators

Various indicators derived from thematic maps have been widely used to determine the strata needed to perform stratified sampling.However,these indicators typically do not quantify the spatial errors in the crop thematic maps that are needed to reduce the uncertainty.To address this lack of error information,this paper introduces a hybrid entropy indicator(HEI).Two conventional indicators,the acreage indicator(AI)and the fragmentation indicator(FI),were also evaluated to compare the results of the three indicators in a homogeneous agricultural area(Pinghu,PH)and a heterogeneous agricultural area(Zhuji,ZJ).The results show that HEI performs the best in heterogeneous areas with the lowest coefficient of variation(CV)(as low as 1.59%)and also has the highest estimation accuracy with the lowest standard deviation of estimation.For both areas,the performances of HEI and AI are very similar,and better than FI.These results highlight that the HEI should be considered as an effective indicator and used in place of AI and FI to help improve sampling efficiency of crop acreage estimation,while FI is not recommended.Furthermore,the positive performance achieved using HEI indicates the potential for incorporating thematic map uncertainty information to improve sampling efficiency.