Support Vector Machine Classification Using Training Sets of Small Mixed Pixels: An Appropriateness Assessment of IKONOS Imagery

Many studies have generally used a large number of pure pixels as an approach to training set design. The training set are used, however, varies between classifiers. In the recent research, it was reported that small mixed pixels between classes are actually more useful than larger pure pixels of each class in Support Vector Machine (SVM) classification. We evaluated a usability of small mixed pixels as a training set for the classification of high-resolution satellite imagery. We presented an advanced approach to obtain a mixed pixel readily, and evaluated the appropriateness with the land cover classification from IKONOS satellite imagery. The results showed that the accuracy of the classification based on small mixed pixels is nearly identical to the accuracy of the classification based on large pure pixels. However, it also showed a limitation that small mixed pixels used may provide insufficient information to separate the classes. Small mixed pixels of the class border region provide cost-effective training sets, but its use with other pixels must be considered in use of high-resolution satellite imagery or relatively complex land cover situations.