Large-scale unsupervised spatio-temporal semantic analysis of vast regions from satellite images sequences

Temporal sequences of satellite images constitute a highly valuable and abundant resource for analyzing regions of interest. However, the automatic acquisition of knowledge on a large scale is a challenging task due to different factors such as the lack of precise labeled data, the definition and va...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Echegoyen Arruti, Carlos, Pérez, Aritz, Santafé Rodrigo, Guzmán, Pérez Goya, Unai, Ugarte Martínez, María Dolores
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2024
País:España
Institución:Universidad Pública de Navarra
Repositorio:Academica-e. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad Pública de Navarra
OAI Identifier:oai:academica-e.unavarra.es:2454/47651
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/2454/47651
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Clustering
Deep learning
Satellite images
Semantic embeddings
Time series
Unsupervised learning
Descripción
Sumario:Temporal sequences of satellite images constitute a highly valuable and abundant resource for analyzing regions of interest. However, the automatic acquisition of knowledge on a large scale is a challenging task due to different factors such as the lack of precise labeled data, the definition and variability of the terrain entities, or the inherent complexity of the images and their fusion. In this context, we present a fully unsupervised and general methodology to conduct spatio-temporal taxonomies of large regions from sequences of satellite images. Our approach relies on a combination of deep embeddings and time series clustering to capture the semantic properties of the ground and its evolution over time, providing a comprehensive understanding of the region of interest. The proposed method is enhanced by a novel procedure specifically devised to refine the embedding and exploit the underlying spatio-temporal patterns. We use this methodology to conduct an in-depth analysis of a 220 km region in northern Spain in different settings. The results provide a broad and intuitive perspective of the land where large areas are connected in a compact and well-structured manner, mainly based on climatic, phytological, and hydrological factors.