USGS Science⌕ Search

Geology topics

L. R. Pettinger

Publications and source records attributed to L. R. Pettinger.

4 recordsLinked to original sources
USGS1982

Arizona Vegetation Resource Inventory (AVRI) accuracy assessment

A quantitative accuracy assessment was performed for the vegetation classification map produced as part of the Arizona Vegetation Resource Inventory (AVRI) project. This project was a cooperative effort between the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the Earth Resources Observation Systems (EROS) Data Center. The objective of the accuracy assessment was to estimate (with a precision of ?10 percent at the 90 percent confidence level) the comission error in each of the eight level II hierarchical vegetation cover types. A stratified two-phase (double) cluster sample was used. Phase I consisted of 160 photointerpreted plots representing clusters of Landsat pixels, and phase II consisted of ground data collection at 80 of the phase I cluster sites. Ground data were used to refine the phase I error estimates by means of a linear regression model. The classified image was stratified by assigning each 15-pixel cluster to the stratum corresponding to the dominant cover type within each cluster. This method is known as stratified plurality sampling. Overall error was estimated to be 36 percent with a standard error of 2 percent. Estimated error for individual vegetation classes ranged from a low of 10 percent ?6 percent for evergreen woodland to 81 percent ?7 percent for cropland and pasture. Total cost of the accuracy assessment was $106,950 for the one-million-hectare study area. The combination of the stratified plurality sampling (SPS) method of sample allocation with double sampling provided the desired estimates within the required precision levels. The overall accuracy results confirmed that highly accurate digital classification of vegetation is difficult to perform in semiarid environments, due largely to the sparse vegetation cover. Nevertheless, these techniques show promise for providing more accurate information than is presently available for many BLM-administered lands.

Open-File Report↗
USGS1982

Digital classification of Landsat data for vegetation and land-cover mapping in the Blackfoot River watershed, southeastern Idaho

This paper documents the procedures, results, and final products of a digital analysis of Landsat data used to produce a vegetation and landcover map of the Blackfoot River watershed in southeastern Idaho. Resource classes were identified at two levels of detail: generalized Level I classes (for example, forest land and wetland) and detailed Levels II and III classes (for example, conifer forest, aspen, wet meadow, and riparian hardwoods). Training set statistics were derived using a modified clustering approach. Environmental stratification that separated uplands from lowlands improved discrimination between resource classes having similar spectral signatures. Digital classification was performed using a maximum likelihood algorithm. Classification accuracy was determined on a single-pixel basis from a random sample of 25-pixel blocks. These blocks were transferred to small-scale color-infrared aerial photographs, and the image area corresponding to each pixel was interpreted. Classification accuracy, expressed as percent agreement of digital classification and photo-interpretation results, was 83.0:t 2.1 percent (0.95 probability level) for generalized (Level I) classes and 52.2:t 2.8 percent (0.95 probability level) for detailed (Levels II and III) classes. After the classified images were geometrically corrected, two types of maps were produced of Level I and Levels II and III resource classes: color-coded maps at a 1:250,000 scale, and flatbed-plotter overlays at a 1:24,000 scale. The overlays are more useful because of their larger scale, familiar format to users, and compatibility with other types of topographic and thematic maps of the same scale.

Professional Paper↗