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To date, the automatic or semiautomatic transformation of huge amounts of multisource multiresolution spaceborne imagery into information still remains far below reasonable expectations. The original contribution of this paper to existing knowledge on the development of operational automatic remote sensing image understanding systems (RS-IUSs) is fourfold. First, existing RS-IUS architectures are critically revised. In this review section, the two-stage stratified hierarchical RS-IUS model, originally proposed by Shackelford and Davis, is identified as a subclass of the parent class of multiagent hybrid systems for RS image understanding, which is potentially superior to the two-stage segment-based RS-IUS architecture that is currently considered the state-of-the-art in commercial RS image-processing software toolboxes. Second, this paper highlights the degree of novelty of an operational automatic near-real-time well-posed model-driven application-independent per-pixel Landsat-like spectral-rulebased decision-tree classifier (LSRC) recently presented in RS literature. Third, five original downscaled implementations of the LSRC system are proposed to be input with a multispectral image whose spectral resolution overlaps with, but is inferior to, Landsat's. These five downscaled LSRC implementations are identified as the Satellite Pour l'Observation de la Terre-like SRC, the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer-like SRC, the Advanced Along-Track Scanning Radiometer-like SRC, the IKONOS-like SRC, and the Disaster Monitoring Constellationlike SRC, respectively. LSRC, together with its five downscaled implementations, called the integrated SRC system of systems, is eligible for use as the automatic pixel-based preliminary classification first stage of a two-stage stratified hierarchical RS-IUS instantiation. Fourth, to sustain the feasibility of the new downscaled LSRC implementations, a novel vegetation spectral index is introduced and discussed. In Part II of this paper, experimental results are presented and discussed for the entire SRC family of classifiers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Part I of this paper, an operational fully automated Landsat-like image spectral rule-based decision-tree classifier (LSRC), suitable for mapping radiometrically calibrated sevenband Landsat-4/-5 Thematic Mapper (TM) and Landsat-7 Enhanced TM+ (ETM+) spaceborne images [eventually synthesized from the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) and theModerate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) imaging sensor] into a discrete and finite set of spectral categories, has been downscaled to properly deal with spaceborne multispectral imaging sensors whose spectral resolution overlaps with, but is inferior to Landsat's, namely: 1) Satellite Pour l'Observation de la Terre (SPOT)-4/-5, Indian Remote Sensing Satellite (IRS)-1C/-1D/-P6 Linear Imaging Self-Scanner (LISS)-III, and IRS-P6 Advanced Wide Field Sensor (AWiFS); 2) National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) and Meteosat Second Generation (MSG); 3) Environmental Satellite (ENVISAT) Advanced Along-Track Scanning Radiometer (AATSR); 4) GeoEye-1, IKONOS-2, QuickBird-2, OrbView-3, TopSat, KOrean MultiPurpose SATellite (KOMPSAT)-2, FORMOsa SATellite (FORMOSAT)-2, Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS) Advanced Visible and Near Infrared Radiometer type 2 (AVNIR-2), RapidEye, WorldView-2, PLEIADES-1/-2, and SPOT-6/-7; and 5) Disaster Monitoring Constellation (DMC), IRS-P6 LISS-IV, and SPOT-1/-2. LSRC, together with its five downscaled versions, identified, respectively, as the four-band SPOT-like SRC (SSRC), the four-band AVHRR-like SRC (AVSRC), the five-band AATSR-like SRC (AASRC), the four-band IKONOS-like SRC (ISRC), and the three-band DMClike SRC (DSRC), form the so-called integrated SRC system of systems. In this paper, first, the classification accuracy and robustness to changes in the input data set of SSRC, AVSRC, AASRC, ISRC, and DSRC are assessed, both qualitatively and quantitatively, in comparison with LSRC's. Next, ongoing and future SRC applications are presented and discussed. They encompass: 1) the implementation of operational two-stage stratified hierarchical Remote Sensing (RS) image understanding systems discussed in Part I of this paper; 2) the integration of near real-time satellite mapping services with Internet map servers; and 3) the development of a new approach to semantic querying of large-scale multisensor image databases. These experimental results and application examples prove that the integrated SRC system of systems is operational, namely, it is effective, near real-time, automatic, and robust to changes in the input data set. Therefore, SRC appears eligible for use in operational satellite-based measurement systems such as those envisaged by the ongoing international Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) Programme and the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) system project. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a fuzzy expert system for the creation of landslide possibility maps using change of land-use data from Earth observation, as well as historical, rainfall, and earthquake data stored in a geographic information system, as input. The difference with other systems is in the use of change (differential) input data. The method is tested with 16 documented landslides. The fuzzy neural network (NN) developed can predict the crowns of 13 out of the 16 landslides to be among the 5% most at-risk pixels that are identified in the area of study, which covers 100 km². The fuzzy expert system considers the rules that increase the possibility of a landslide, as supplied by experts, and expresses them in the form of an empirical algebraic formula. It then fuzzifies the various thresholds they rely on and, in conjunction with uncertainties that are reported by the classifier that decides the land-use change, produces a fuzzy algebraic formula that may be used to identify the range of uncertainty in the possibility of a landslide in terms of the ranges of uncertainty in the input variables. This formula is used to train an Ishibuchi fuzzy NN, which has been designed to capture uncertainty in the rules and uncertainty in the input variables. It is this Ishibuchi NN that acts as a fuzzy expert system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Part I. Presents a study which reviewed the relative and absolute fuzzy clustering algorithms. Overview on the synthesis between clustering algorithms and fuzzy set theory; Concepts of inductive learning systems; Conclusion.