Citation:

Tran, L. T., J D. Wickham, S T. Jarnagin, AND C. G. Knight. MAPPING SPATIAL THEMATIC ACCURACY WITH FUZZY SETS. PHOTOGRAMMETRIC ENGINEERING AND REMOTE SENSING 71(1):29-36, (2005).

Impact/Purpose:

The primary objectives of this research are to:

Develop methodologies so that landscape indicator values generated from different sensors on different dates (but in the same areas) are comparable; differences in metric values result from landscape changes and not differences in the sensors;

Quantify relationships between landscape metrics generated from wall-to-wall spatial data and (1) specific parameters related to water resource conditions in different environmental settings across the US, including but not limited to nutrients, sediment, and benthic communities, and (2) multi-species habitat suitability;

Develop and validate multivariate models based on quantification studies;

Develop GIS/model assessment protocols and tools to characterize risk of nutrient and sediment TMDL exceedence;

Complete an initial draft (potentially web based) of a national landscape condition assessment.

This research directly supports long-term goals established in ORDs multiyear plans related to GPRA Goal 2 (Water) and GPRA Goal 4 (Healthy Communities and Ecosystems), although funding for this task comes from Goal 4. Relative to the GRPA Goal 2 multiyear plan, this research is intended to "provide tools to assess and diagnose impairment in aquatic systems and the sources of associated stressors." Relative to the Goal 4 Multiyear Plan this research is intended to (1) provide states and tribes with an ability to assess the condition of waterbodies in a scientifically defensible and representative way, while allowing for aggregation and assessment of trends at multiple scales, (2) assist Federal, State and Local managers in diagnosing the probable cause and forecasting future conditions in a scientifically defensible manner to protect and restore ecosystems, and (3) provide Federal, State and Local managers with a scientifically defensible way to assess current and future ecological conditions, and probable causes of impairments, and a way to evaluate alternative future management scenarios.

Description:

Thematic map accuracy is not spatially homogenous but variable across a landscape. Properly analyzing and representing spatial pattern and degree of thematic map accuracy would provide valuable information for using thematic maps. However, current thematic map accuracy measures (e.g., confusion or error matrix, kappa coefficient of agreement, etc) are inadequate in analyzing the spatial variation of thematic map accuracy. This paper presents a method of mapping spatial accuracy of thematic land-cover map using fuzzy set concept. First, we defined a multi-level agreement between sample pixel sand map-based pixels. Then we formulated a discrete fuzzy set of agreement regarding a particular land-cover type for each pixel on the map using a modified inverse distance weighted approach. We illustrated the method by constructing accuracy maps of several land-cover types for the Mid-,4tlantic Region
Results showed that the method provided valuable information of thematic map accuracy

for both remote sensing /GIS scientists and decision-makers.

Record Details: