Mapping of Tea Gardens from Satellite Images -a Fuzzy Knowledge-based Image Interpetation System

Detection and identification leading to interpretation and mapping of tea gardens from satellite images is the prerequisite for application of remote sensing technology to monitor and management of tea gardens. This paper discusses the development of a fuzzy knowledge-based image interpretation system for mapping of tea gardens from satellite images. It emulates the multi-stage, multi-feature and multi-iteration heuristics of an expert image analyst. Knowledge acquisitions for the system is achieved through spectral knowledge of land covers, domain knowledge and expert’s heuristics. The knowledge base and feature attributes of the information classes are expressed by linguistic variables and fuzzy attributes. The inference mechanism is modeled on the basis of fuzzy logic. The system provides information of different types of land cover in each stage of its interpretation leading to mapping of tea gardens after the final stage. The mapping of tea gardens from IRS (Indian Remote Sensing Satellite) LISS (Linear Imaging Self Scanner) II geocoded images of an area in the district of Cacher in Assam (INDIA) has been carried out by the system developed. The results obtained from the working of the system in each stage of its operation as well as from the experimental study show that the developed system provides sufficiently accurate information in each stage of its interpretation. It has been found that the performance of the system is better than the minimum classification accuracy required i.e., 85% to justify the operational capability of the system. Thus it can be concluded that the developed system can be used reliably for mapping of tea gardens from satellite images.