Extraction of urban impervious surfaces from an IKONOS image

Impervious surface has been recognised as an important indicator in urban environmental assessment. However, accurate extraction of impervious surface information in urban areas is a challenge because of the complexity of impervious materials. This paper explores different approaches for impervious surface extraction with IKONOS imagery in Indianapolis, U.S.A., by using decision tree classifier (DTC) and linear spectral mixture analysis (LSMA). This research indicates that DTC is an effective approach for extraction of different impervious surface classes, including high‐, medium‐ and low‐reflectivity impervious surfaces and that LSMA‐based approach can provide quantitative measure of imperviousness. A critical step is to separate dark impervious objects/features from shadows cast by tall buildings and tree canopy and from water.