Integrated urban land cover analysis using deep learning and post‐classification correction

Abstract

The quantification of urban impervious area has important implications for the design and management of urban water and environmental infrastructure systems. This study proposes a deep learning model to classify 15‐cm aerial imagery of urban landscapes, coupled with a vector‐oriented post‐classification processing algorithm for automatically retrieving canopy‐covered impervious surfaces. In a case study in Corpus Christi, TX, deep learning classification covered an area of approximately 312 km2 (or 14.86 billion 0.15‐m pixels), and the post‐classification effort led to the retrieval of over 4 km2 (or 0.18 billion pixels) of additional impervious area. The results also suggest the underestimation of urban impervious area by existing methods that cannot consider the canopy‐covered impervious surfaces. By improving the identification and quantification of various impervious surfaces at the city scale, this study could directly benefit a variety of environmental and infrastructure management practices and enhance the reliability and accuracy of processed‐based models for urban hydrology and water infrastructure.