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Author: search.filters.author.Baraldi, Andrea

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    Operational Automatic Remote Sensing Image Understanding Systems: Beyond Geographic Object-Based and Object-Oriented Image Analysis (GEOBIA/GEOOIA). Part 1: Introduction
    (MDPI, 2012-09-14) Baraldi, Andrea; Boschetti, Luigi
    According to existing literature and despite their commercial success, state-of-the-art two-stage non-iterative geographic object-based image analysis (GEOBIA) systems and three-stage iterative geographic object-oriented image analysis (GEOOIA) systems, where GEOOIA ⊃ GEOBIA, remain affected by a lack of productivity, general consensus and research. To outperform the degree of automation, accuracy, efficiency, robustness, scalability and timeliness of existing GEOBIA/GEOOIA systems in compliance with the Quality Assurance Framework for Earth Observation (QA4EO) guidelines, this methodological work is split into two parts. The present first paper provides a multi-disciplinary Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) analysis of the GEOBIA/GEOOIA approaches that augments similar analyses proposed in recent years. In line with constraints stemming from human vision, this SWOT analysis promotes a shift of learning paradigm in the pre-attentive vision first stage of a remote sensing (RS) image understanding system (RS-IUS), from sub-symbolic statistical model-based (inductive) image segmentation to symbolic physical model-based (deductive) image preliminary classification. Hence, a symbolic deductive pre-attentive vision first stage accomplishes image sub-symbolic segmentation and image symbolic pre-classification simultaneously. In the second part of this work a novel hybrid (combined deductive and inductive) RS-IUS architecture featuring a symbolic deductive pre-attentive vision first stage is proposed and discussed in terms of: (a) computational theory (system design); (b) information/knowledge representation; (c) algorithm design; and (d) implementation. As proof-of-concept of symbolic physical model-based pre-attentive vision first stage, the spectral knowledge-based, operational, near real-time Satellite Image Automatic Mapper™ (SIAM™) is selected from existing literature. To the best of these authors’ knowledge, this is the first time a symbolic syntactic inference system, like SIAM™, is made available to the RS community for operational use in a RS-IUS pre-attentive vision first stage, to accomplish multi-scale image segmentation and multi-granularity image pre-classification simultaneously, automatically and in near real-time.
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    Operational Automatic Remote Sensing Image Understanding Systems: Beyond Geographic Object-Based and Object-Oriented Image Analysis (GEOBIA/GEOOIA). Part 2: Novel system Architecture, Information/Knowledge Representation, Algorithm Design and Implementation
    (MDPI, 2012-09-20) Baraldi, Andrea; Boschetti, Luigi
    According to literature and despite their commercial success, state-of-the-art two-stage non-iterative geographic object-based image analysis (GEOBIA) systems and three-stage iterative geographic object-oriented image analysis (GEOOIA) systems, where GEOOIA ⊃ GEOBIA, remain affected by a lack of productivity, general consensus and research. To outperform the Quality Indexes of Operativeness (OQIs) of existing GEOBIA/GEOOIA systems in compliance with the Quality Assurance Framework for Earth Observation (QA4EO) guidelines, this methodological work is split into two parts. Based on an original multi-disciplinary Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) analysis of the GEOBIA/GEOOIA approaches, the first part of this work promotes a shift of learning paradigm in the pre-attentive vision first stage of a remote sensing (RS) image understanding system (RS-IUS), from sub-symbolic statistical model-based (inductive) image segmentation to symbolic physical model-based (deductive) image preliminary classification capable of accomplishing image sub-symbolic segmentation and image symbolic pre-classification simultaneously. In the present second part of this work, a novel hybrid (combined deductive and inductive) RS-IUS architecture featuring a symbolic deductive pre-attentive vision first stage is proposed and discussed in terms of: (a) computational theory (system design), (b) information/knowledge representation, (c) algorithm design and (d) implementation. As proof-of-concept of symbolic physical model-based pre-attentive vision first stage, the spectral knowledge-based, operational, near real-time, multi-sensor, multi-resolution, application-independent Satellite Image Automatic Mapper™ (SIAM™) is selected from existing literature. To the best of these authors’ knowledge, this is the first time a symbolic syntactic inference system, like SIAM™, is made available to the RS community for operational use in a RS-IUS pre-attentive vision first stage, to accomplish multi-scale image segmentation and multi-granularity image pre-classification simultaneously, automatically and in near real-time.
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    Quality Assessment of Pre-Classification Maps Generated from Spaceborne/Airborne Multi-Spectral Images by the Satellite Image Automatic Mapper™ and Atmospheric/Topographic Correction™-Spectral Classification Software Products: Part 2 — Experimental Results
    (MDPI, 2013-10-18) Baraldi, Andrea; Humber, Michael; Boschetti, Luigi
    This paper complies with the Quality Assurance Framework for Earth Observation (QA4EO) international guidelines to provide a metrological/statistically-based quality assessment of the Spectral Classification of surface reflectance signatures (SPECL) secondary product, implemented within the popular Atmospheric/Topographic Correction (ATCOR™) commercial software suite, and of the Satellite Image Automatic Mapper™ (SIAM™) software product, proposed to the remote sensing (RS) community in recent years. The ATCOR™-SPECL and SIAM™ physical model-based expert systems are considered of potential interest to a wide RS audience: in operating mode, they require neither user-defined parameters nor training data samples to map, in near real-time, a spaceborne/airborne multi-spectral (MS) image into a discrete and finite set of (pre-attentional first-stage) spectral-based semi-concepts (e.g., “vegetation”), whose informative content is always equal or inferior to that of target (attentional second-stage) land cover (LC) concepts (e.g., “deciduous forest”). For the sake of simplicity, this paper is split into two: Part 1—Theory and Part 2—Experimental results. The Part 1 provides the present Part 2 with an interdisciplinary terminology and a theoretical background. To comply with the principle of statistics and the QA4EO guidelines discussed in the Part 1, the present Part 2 applies an original adaptation of a novel probability sampling protocol for thematic map quality assessment to the ATCOR™-SPECL and SIAM™ pre-classification maps, generated from three spaceborne/airborne MS test images. Collected metrological/statistically-based quality indicators (QIs) comprise: (i) an original Categorical Variable Pair Similarity Index (CVPSI), capable of estimating the degree of match between a test pre-classification map’s legend and a reference LC map’s legend that do not coincide and must be harmonized (reconciled); (ii) pixel-based Thematic (symbolic, semantic) QIs (TQIs) and (iii) polygon-based sub-symbolic (non-semantic) Spatial QIs (SQIs), where all TQIs and SQIs are provided with a degree of uncertainty in measurement. Main experimental conclusions of the present Part 2 are the following. (I) Across the three test images, the CVPSI values of the SIAM™ pre-classification maps at the intermediate and fine semantic granularities are superior to those of the ATCOR™-SPECL single-granule maps. (II) TQIs of both the ATCOR™-SPECL and the SIAM™ tend to exceed community-agreed reference standards of accuracy. (III) Across the three test images and the SIAM™’s three semantic granularities, TQIs of the SIAM™ tend to be significantly higher (in statistical terms) than the ATCOR™-SPECL’s. Stemming from the proposed experimental evidence in support to theoretical considerations, the final conclusion of this paper is that, in compliance with the QA4EO objectives, the SIAM™ software product can be considered eligible for injecting prior spectral knowledge into the pre-attentive vision first stage of a novel generation of hybrid (combined deductive and inductive) RS image understanding systems, capable of transforming large-scale multi-source multi-resolution EO image databases into operational, comprehensive and timely knowledge/information products.