Pt. Giles et Se. Franklin, AN AUTOMATED APPROACH TO THE CLASSIFICATION OF THE SLOPE UNITS USING DIGITAL DATA, Geomorphology, 21(3-4), 1998, pp. 251-264
Digital elevation and remote sensing data sets contain different, yet
complementary, information related to geomorphological features. Digit
al elevation models (DEMs) represent the topography, or land form, whe
reas remote sensing data record the reflectance/emittance, or spectral
, characteristics of surfaces. Computer analysis of integrated digital
data sets can be exploited for geomorphological classification using
automated methods developed in the remote sensing community. In the pr
esent study, geomorphological classification in a moderate-to high-rel
ief area dominated by slope processes in southwest Yukon Territory, Ca
nada, is performed with a combined set of geomorphometric and spectral
variables in a Linear discriminant analysis. An automated method was
developed to find the boundaries of geomorphological objects and to ex
tract the objects as groups of aggregated pixels. The geomorphological
objects selected are slope units, with the boundaries being breaks of
slope on two-dimensional downslope profiles. Each slope unit is descr
ibed by variables summarizing the shape, topographic, and spectral cha
racteristics of the aggregated group of pixels. Overall discrimination
accuracy of 90% is achieved for the aggregated slope units in ten cla
sses. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V.