Do Superpixel Segmentation Methods Influence Deforestation Image Classification?

Image segmentation is a crucial step in various visual applications, including environmental monitoring through remote sensing. In the context of the ForestEyes project, which combines citizen science and machine learning to detect deforestation in tropical forests, image segments are used for labeling by volunteers and subsequent model training. Traditionally, the Simple Linear Iterative Clustering (SLIC) algorithm is adopted as the segmentation method. However, recent studies have indicated that other superpixel-based methods outperform SLIC in remote sensing image segmentation, and might suggest that they are more suitable for the task of detecting deforested areas. In this sense, this study investigated the impact of the four best segmentation methods, together with SLIC, on the training of classifiers for the target application. Initially, the results showed little variation in performance among segmentation methods, even when selecting the top five classifiers using the PyCaret AutoML library. However, by applying a classifier fusion approach (ensemble of classifiers), noticeable improvements in balanced accuracy were observed, highlighting the importance of both the choice of segmentation method and the combination of machine learning-based models for deforestation detection tasks.