Supervised Classification

In supervised classification the user or image analyst “supervises” the pixel classification process. The user specifies the various pixels values or spectral signatures that should be associated with each class. This is done by selecting representative sample sites of a known cover type called Training Sites or Areas. The computer algorithm then uses the spectral signatures from these training areas to classify the whole image. Ideally, the classes should not overlap or should only minimally overlap with other classes.

In ENVI there are four different classification algorithms you can choose from in the supervised classification procedure. There are as follows:

• Maximum Likelihood: Assumes that the statistics for each class in each band are normally distributed and calculates the probability that a given pixel belongs to a specific class. Each pixel is assigned to the class that has the highest probability (that is, the maximum likelihood). This is the default.


• Minimum Distance: Uses the mean vectors for each class and calculates the Euclidean distance from each unknown pixel to the mean vector for each class. The pixels are classified to the nearest class.


• Mahalanobis Distance: A direction-sensitive distance classifier that uses statistics for each class. It is similar to maximum likelihood classification, but it assumes all class covariances are equal, and therefore is a faster method. All pixels are classified to the closest training data.


• Spectral Angle Mapper: (SAM) is a physically-based spectral classification that uses an n-Dimension angle to match pixels to training data. This method determines the spectral similarity between two spectra by calculating the angle between the spectra and treating them as vectors in a space with dimensionality equal to the number of bands. This technique, when used on calibrated reflectance data, is relatively insensitive to illumination and albedo effects.

Training Sites

Training sites are areas that are known to be representative of a particular land cover type. The computer determines the spectral signature of the pixels within each training area, and uses this information to define the statistics, including the mean and variance of each of the classes. Preferably the location of the training sites should be based on field collected data or high resolution reference imagery. It is important to choose training sites that cover the full range of variability within each class to allow the software to accurately classify the rest of the image. If the training areas are not representative of the range of variability found within a particular land cover type, the classification may be much less accurate. Multiple, small training sites should be selected for each class. The more time and effort spent in collecting and selecting training site the better the classification results.

Defining training data in ENVI. Training data can be selected by polygons and can be imported and saved for future use.

Advantages and Disadvantages

In supervised classification the majority of the effort is done prior to the actual classification process. Once the classification is run the output is a thematic image with classes that are labeled and correspond to information classes or land cover types. Supervised classification can be much more accurate than unsupervised classification, but depends heavily on the training sites, the skill of the individual processing the image, and the spectral distinctness of the classes. If two or more classes are very similar to each other in terms of their spectral reflectance (e.g., annual-dominated grasslands vs. perennial grasslands), mis-classifications will tend to be high. Supervised classification requires close attention to the development of training data. If the training data is poor or not representative the classification results will also be poor. Therefore supervised classification generally requires more times and money compared to unsupervised.