Application of Multiple Threshold Values for Accuracy Improvement of an Automated Binary Change Detection Model

Multi-temporal satellite imagery can be changed into a transform image that emphasizes the changed area only through the application of various change detection techniques. From the transform image, an automated change detection model calculates the optimal threshold value for classifying the changed and unchanged areas. However, the model can cause undesirable results when the histogram of the transform image is unbalanced. This is because the model uses a single threshold value in which the sign is either positive or negative and its value is constant (e.g. -1, 1), regardless of the imbalance between changed pixels. This paper proposes an advanced method that can improve accuracy by applying separate threshold values according to the increased or decreased range of the changed pixels. It applies multiple threshold values based on the cumulative producer’s and user’s accuracies in the automated binary change detection model, and the analyst can automatically extract more accurate optimal threshold values. Multitemporal IKONOS satellite imagery for the Daejeon area was used to test the proposed method. A total of 16 transformation results were applied to the two study sites, and optimal threshold values were determined using accuracy assessment curves. The experiment showed that the accuracy of most transform images is improved by applying multiple threshold values. The proposed method is expected to be used in various study fields, such as detection of illegal urban building, detection of the damaged area in a disaster, etc.