SEAWALL DETECTION IN FLORIDA COASTAL AREA FROM HIGH RESOLUTION IMAGERY USING MACHINE LEARNING AND OBIA

In this thesis, a methodology and framework were created to detect the seawalls accurately and efficiently in low coastal areas and was evaluated in the study area of Hallandale Beach City, Broward County, Florida. Aerial images collected from the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) were processed using eCognition Developer software for Multi-Resolution Segmentation and Classification of objects. Two classification approaches, pixel-based image analysis, and the object-based image analysis (OBIA) method were applied for image classification. However, Pixel based classification was discarded for having less accuracy in output. Three techniques within object-based classification-machine learning technique, knowledge-based technique and machine learning followed by knowledge-based technique were used to compare the most efficient method of classification. While performing the machine learning technique, three algorithms: Random Forest, support vector machine and decision tree were applied to test the best algorithm. Of all the approaches used, the combination of machine learning and a knowledge-based method was able to map the sea wall effectively.