Malaysian Journal of Geosciences (MJG)

In this paper, DTFL an image classifier based on Decision Tree and Fuzzy Logics is proposed. At the beginning of classification using DTFL, each pixel is located at the highest level of a decision tree where it belongs to the combination of all classes. DTFL transfers a pixel to a lower level of the decision tree where the pixel belongs to a combination of fewer classes. Decision-making about transfers is based on fuzzy logic with seven different membership functions including triangular-shaped, trapezoidal-shaped, π-shaped, bell-shaped, Gaussian, differential S-shaped and multiplicative S-shaped. Eventually, pixels will reach the lowest level of the decision tree where it belongs to only one class. For accuracy assessment, DTFL was used to classify a GeoEye-1 image. The overall accuracy of 96.14% and a kappa coefficient of 96.06% were reached by DTFL. In comparison, the overall accuracy of 89.91% and a kappa coefficient of 89.77% were reached by a Maximum Likelihood Classifier, MLC. In the case of applying a threshold in MLC to reach the same accuracy as DTFL, 8.73% of pixels take the non-classified label while using DTFL all the pixels get a proper label. The results indicate that the proposed classifier extracts more information from images.