Hierarchical segmentation of vegetation areas in high spatial resolution images by fusion of multispectral information

A new region-based methodology for the automated extraction and hierarchical segmentation of vegetation areas into high spatial resolution images is proposed. This approach is based on the iterative and cooperative fusion of the independent segmentation results of equal or different resolution spectral bands, combined with an unsupervised classification into vegetation and no-vegetation regions. The result is a hierarchy of partitions with most relevant information at different levels of resolution of the vegetation areas. In addition, the high flexibility of the scheme allows different configurations depending on the final purpose. For instance, considering the size of the vegetation areas into the hierarchy, or prioritizing the information into the high resolution panchromatic band to improve the accuracy of both vegetation extraction and segmentation. This general tool for vegetation analysis is tested into high spatial resolution images from IKONOS and QuickBird satellites.