Object-oriented Classification of Urban Areas Using Lidar and Aerial Images

In this paper, object-based classification of urban areas based on a combination of information from lidar and aerial images is introduced. High resolution images are frequently used in automatic classification, making use of the spectral characteristics of the features under study. However, in urban areas, pixel-based classification can be difficult since building colors differ and the shadows of buildings can obscure building segmentation. Therefore, if the boundaries of buildings can be extracted from lidar, this information could improve the accuracy of urban area classifications. In the data processing stage, lidar data and the aerial image are co-registered into the same coordinate system, and a local maxima filter is used for the building segmentation of lidar data, which are then converted into an image containing only building information. Then, multiresolution segmentation is achieved using a scale parameter, and a color and shape factor; a compactness factor and a layer weight are implemented for the classification using a class hierarchy. Results indicate that lidar can provide useful additional data when combined with high resolution images in the object-oriented hierarchical classification of urban areas.