A Novel Classification Technique of Landsat-8 OLI Image-Based Data Visualization: The Application of Andrews' Plots and Fuzzy Evidential Reasoning

Andrews first proposed an equation to visualize the structures within data in 1972. Since then, this equation has been used for data transformation and visualization in a wide variety of fields. However, it has yet to be applied to satellite image data. The effect of unwanted, or impure, pixels occurring in these data varies with their distribution in the image; the effect is greater if impurity pixels are included in a classifier’s training set. Andrews’ curves enable the interpreter to select outlier or impurity data that can be grouped into a new category for classification. This study overcomes the above-mentioned problem and illustrates the novelty of applying Andrews’ plots to satellite image data, and proposes a robust method for classifying the plots that combines Dempster-Shafer theory with fuzzy set theory. In addition, we present an example, obtained from real satellite images, to demonstrate the application of the proposed classification method. The accuracy and robustness of the proposed method are investigated for different training set sizes and crop types, and are compared with the results of two traditional classification methods. We find that outlier data are easily eliminated by examining Andrews’ curves and that the proposed method significantly outperforms traditional methods when considering the classification accuracy.