A super-resolution mapping method using local indicator variograms

This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. The publisher does not give any warranty express or implied or make any representation that the contents will be complete or accurate or up to date. The accuracy of any instructions, formulae, and drug doses should be independently verified with primary sources. The publisher shall not be liable for any loss, actions, claims, proceedings, demand, or costs or damages whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with or arising out of the use of this material. Super-resolution mapping (SRM) is a recently developed research task in the field of remotely sensed information processing. It provides the ability to obtain land-cover maps at a finer scale using relatively low-resolution images. Existing algorithms based on indicator geostatistics and downscaling cokriging offer an SRM approach using spatial structure models derived from real data. In this article, a novel SRM method is developed based on a sequentially produced with local indicator variogram (SLIV) SRM model. In the SLIV method, indicator variograms extracted from target-resolution classification are produced from a representative local area as opposed to using the entire image. This simplifies the application of the method since limited target-resolution reference data are required. Our investigation on three diverse case studies shows that the local window (approximately 2% of the entire study area) selection process offers comparable accuracy results to those using globally derived spatial structures, indicating our methodology to be a promising practice. Furthermore, comparison of the proposed method with random realizations indicates an improvement of 7–12% in terms of overall accuracy and 15–18% in terms of the kappa coefficient. The evaluation focused on a 270–30 m pixel size reconstruction as a potential popular application, for example moving from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) to Landsat-type resolutions.