IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/jgeosy/v1y1999i1d10.1007_s101090050003.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Fuzzy mapping of tropical land cover along an environmental gradient from remotely sensed data with an artificial neural network

Author

Listed:
  • Giles M. Foody

    (Department of Geography, University of Southampton, Highfield, Southampton SO17 1BJ, UK (e-mail: g.m.foody@soton.ac.uk))

  • Doreen S. Boyd

    (School of Geography, Kingston University, Penrhyn Road, Kingston-upon-Thames KT1 2EE, UK (e-mail: d.boyd@kingston.ac.uk))

Abstract

. Remote sensing is the only feasible means of mapping and monitoring land cover at regional to global scales. Unfortunately the maps are generally derived through the use of a conventional 'hard' classification algorithm and depict classes separated by sharp boundaries. Such approaches and representations are often inappropriate particularly when the land cover being represented may be considered to be fuzzy. The definition of boundaries between classes can therefore be difficult from remotely sensed data, particularly for continuous land cover classes which are separated by a fuzzy boundary which may also vary spatially in time. In this paper a neural network was used to derive fuzzy classifications of land cover along a transect crossing the transition from moist semi-deciduous forest to savanna in West Africa in February and December 1990. The fuzzy classifications revealed both sharp and gradual boundaries between classes located along the transect. In particular, the fuzzy classifications enabled the definition of important boundary properties, such as width and temporal displacement.

Suggested Citation

  • Giles M. Foody & Doreen S. Boyd, 1999. "Fuzzy mapping of tropical land cover along an environmental gradient from remotely sensed data with an artificial neural network," Journal of Geographical Systems, Springer, vol. 1(1), pages 23-35, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jgeosy:v:1:y:1999:i:1:d:10.1007_s101090050003
    DOI: 10.1007/s101090050003
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s101090050003
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s101090050003?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:jgeosy:v:1:y:1999:i:1:d:10.1007_s101090050003. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.