GEOG 4/582 Lab 5: Advanced Classifiers

Instructions:

In this exercise you will learn advanced classification using the image processing capabilities of Idrisi Andes. Start Idrisi and click Help and then “IDRISI Tutorial”.  Scroll down to Tutorial Part 5.  The data for this lab can be found in I:\Students\Instructors\Geoffrey_Duh\IDRISI\Advanced IP. Please copy the files to your working folder on the local computer. Complete exercises 5-1 through 5-5, which include the following topics:

1)    Bayes' Theorem and Maximum Likelihood Classification

2)    Soft Classifiers I: Bayclass Soft Classifier

3)    Hardeners (forcing decision of class membership)

4)    Soft Classifiers II: Dempster-Shafer Soft Classifier and BELCLASS

5)    Dempster-Shafer and Classification Uncertainty

Read/skim the help section called Classification of Remotely Sensed Imagery (pages 188-206) in “IDRISI Manual” before you begin. Skip the sections on Hard Classifiers if you know what they are about. To quickly access lab data, you can open the Idrisi Explorer, click on the Projects tab, and set the working folder to your working space. This is done by right-clicking anywhere in the tab and selecting “Change Object Folder.” Once you set the project folder, you need to create a new project in your project folder. Right-click on the tab and select “New Project.” Give the new project a name before you continue. If you haven’t used Idrisi before, getting familiar with IDRISI’s GUI probably will be the most time-consuming part of this lab. Be patient! Be explorative to learn the hidden functions of the GUI (e.g., double-click the objects on the map)! Learn how other people picked the training sites! See what information is in a .sig file!

Write a report that describes the different results of the different classification techniques.  Be sure to include a map of each resulting classification as well as any tabular results that will illustrate their differences.