{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,3]],"date-time":"2026-07-03T23:25:48Z","timestamp":1783121148045,"version":"3.54.6"},"reference-count":28,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"4","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2017,3,31]],"date-time":"2017-03-31T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1490918400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["IJGI"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Image interpretation is a major topic in the remote sensing community. With the increasing acquisition of high spatial resolution (HSR) remotely sensed images, incorporating geographic object-based image analysis (GEOBIA) is becoming an important sub-discipline for improving remote sensing applications. The idea of integrating the human ability to understand images inspires research related to introducing expert knowledge into image object\u2013based interpretation. The relevant work involved three parts: (1) identification and formalization of domain knowledge; (2) image segmentation and feature extraction; and (3) matching image objects with geographic concepts. This paper presents a novel way that combines multi-scaled segmented image objects with geographic concepts to express context in an ontology-guided image interpretation. Spectral features and geometric features of a single object are extracted after segmentation and topological relationships are also used in the interpretation. Web ontology language\u2013query language (OWL-QL) formalize domain knowledge. Then the interpretation matching procedure is implemented by the OWL-QL query-answering. Compared with a supervised classification, which does not consider context, the proposed method validates two HSR images of coastal areas in China. Both the number of interpreted classes increased (19 classes over 10 classes in Case 1 and 12 classes over seven in Case 2), and the overall accuracy improved (0.77 over 0.55 in Case 1 and 0.86 over 0.65 in Case 2). The additional context of the image objects improved accuracy during image classification. The proposed approach shows the pivotal role of ontology for knowledge-guided interpretation.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ijgi6040105","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2017,3,31]],"date-time":"2017-03-31T10:35:49Z","timestamp":1490956549000},"page":"105","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":6,"title":["Ontology-Guided Image Interpretation for GEOBIA of High Spatial Resolution Remote Sense Imagery: A Coastal Area Case Study"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"6","author":[{"given":"Helingjie","family":"Huang","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Satellite Ocean Environment Dynamics, Second Institute of Oceanography, State Oceanic Administration, Hangzhou 310012, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jianyu","family":"Chen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Satellite Ocean Environment Dynamics, Second Institute of Oceanography, State Oceanic Administration, Hangzhou 310012, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Zhu","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Satellite Ocean Environment Dynamics, Second Institute of Oceanography, State Oceanic Administration, Hangzhou 310012, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Fang","family":"Gong","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Satellite Ocean Environment Dynamics, Second Institute of Oceanography, State Oceanic Administration, Hangzhou 310012, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ninghua","family":"Chen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Earth Science collage, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310012, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2017,3,31]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"180","DOI":"10.1016\/j.isprsjprs.2013.09.014","article-title":"Geographic object-based image analysis\u2014Towards a new paradigm","volume":"87","author":"Blaschke","year":"2014","journal-title":"ISPRS J. Photogramm. Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_2","first-page":"12","article-title":"Multiresolution Segmentation: An optimization approach for high quality multi-scale image segmentation","volume":"58","author":"Baatz","year":"2000","journal-title":"J. Photogramm. Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"3585","DOI":"10.1080\/01431160802585348","article-title":"Image-object detectable in multiscale analysis on high-resolution remotely sensed imagery","volume":"30","author":"Chen","year":"2009","journal-title":"Int. J. Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_4","first-page":"28","article-title":"A GEOBIA framework to estimate forest parameters from lidar transects, Quickbird imagery and machine learning: A case study in Quebec, Canada","volume":"15","author":"Chen","year":"2012","journal-title":"Int. J. Appl. Earth Obs. Geo-inf."},{"key":"ref_5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"239","DOI":"10.1016\/j.isprsjprs.2003.10.002","article-title":"Multi-resolution, object-oriented fuzzy analysis of remote sensing data for GIS-ready information","volume":"58","author":"Benz","year":"2004","journal-title":"ISPRS J. Photogramm. Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_6","unstructured":"(1970, January 01). eCoginition Professional User Guide. Available online: http:\/\/www.definiens-imaging.com\/."},{"key":"ref_7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2052","DOI":"10.1016\/j.rse.2009.04.009","article-title":"Integrating SPOT-5 time series, crop growth modeling and expert knowledge for monitoring agricultural practices\u2014The case of sugarcane harvest on Reunion Island","volume":"113","author":"Hajj","year":"2011","journal-title":"Remote Sens. Environ."},{"key":"ref_8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"470","DOI":"10.1016\/j.compenvurbsys.2012.01.003","article-title":"Knowledge-based Region Labeling for Remote Sensing Image Interpretation","volume":"36","author":"Forestier","year":"2012","journal-title":"Comput. Environ. Urban Syst."},{"key":"ref_9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"291","DOI":"10.1016\/S0198-9715(97)01004-1","article-title":"Classification of urban land cover based on expert systems, object models and texture","volume":"21","year":"1997","journal-title":"Comput. Environ. Urban Syst."},{"key":"ref_10","unstructured":"Lillesand, T.M., Kiefer, R.W., and Chipman, J.W. (2003). Remote Sensing and Image Interpretation, Wiley. [7th ed.]."},{"key":"ref_11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"199","DOI":"10.1006\/knac.1993.1008","article-title":"A translation approach to portable ontology specifications","volume":"5","author":"Gruber","year":"1993","journal-title":"Knowl. Acquis."},{"key":"ref_12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Andres, S., Arvor, D., and Pierkot, C. (2012, January 25\u201329). Towards an ontological approach for classifying remote sensing images. Proceedings of the 2012 Eighth International Conference on Signal Image Technology and Internet Based Systems (SITIS), Naples, Italy.","DOI":"10.1109\/SITIS.2012.124"},{"key":"ref_13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"88","DOI":"10.1016\/j.cageo.2012.11.023","article-title":"Coastal image interpretation using background knowledge and semantics","volume":"54","author":"Forestier","year":"2013","journal-title":"Comput. Geosci."},{"key":"ref_14","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"31","DOI":"10.3390\/ijgi5030031","article-title":"Land Cover Extraction from High Resolution ZY-3 Satellite Imagery Using Ontology-Based Method","volume":"5","author":"Luo","year":"2016","journal-title":"ISPRS Int. J. Geo Inf."},{"key":"ref_15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Durand, N., Derivaux, S., Forestier, G., Wemmert, C., Gancarski, P., Boussaid, O., Puissant, A., Ganc, P., Boussa, O., and Puissant, A. (2007, January 29\u201331). Ontology-based Object Recognition for Remote Sensing Image Interpretation. Proceedings of the 19th IEEE International Conference on Tools with Artificial Intelligence (ICTAI 2007), Washington, DC, USA.","DOI":"10.1109\/ICTAI.2007.111"},{"key":"ref_16","unstructured":"Puissant, A., Sheeren, D., and Durand, D. (2007, January 17\u201318). Urban ontology for semantic intergretation of muti-source images. Proceedings of the 2nd Workshop on Ontologies for Urban Development: Conceptual Models for Practitioners, Turin, Italy."},{"key":"ref_17","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"19","DOI":"10.1016\/j.websem.2004.07.002","article-title":"OWL-QL\u2014A language for deductive query answering on the Semantic Web","volume":"2","author":"Fikes","year":"2004","journal-title":"Web Semant. Sci. Serv. Agents World Wide Web"},{"key":"ref_18","first-page":"1","article-title":"Introduction to the GEOBIA 2010 special issue: From pixels to geographic objects in remote sensing image analysis","volume":"15","author":"Addink","year":"2012","journal-title":"Int. J. Appl. Earth Obs. Geoinf."},{"key":"ref_19","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"125","DOI":"10.1016\/j.isprsjprs.2013.05.003","article-title":"Advances in Geographic Object-Based Image Analysis with ontologies: A review of main contributions and limitations from a remote sensing perspective","volume":"82","author":"Arvor","year":"2013","journal-title":"ISPRS J. Photogramm. Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_20","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"3816","DOI":"10.1080\/01431161.2014.919678","article-title":"A novel method for assessing the segmentation quality of high-spatial resolution remote-sensing images","volume":"35","author":"Cheng","year":"2014","journal-title":"Int. J. Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_21","unstructured":"Sch\u00f6pfer, E., and Lang, S. (2006, January 4\u20135). Object fate analysis\u2014A virtual overlay method for the categorisation of object transition and object-based accuracy assessment. Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Object-Based Image Analysis, Salzburg, Austria."},{"key":"ref_22","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2518","DOI":"10.1109\/TGRS.2002.805072","article-title":"Existential uncertainty of spatial objects segmented from satellite sensor imagery","volume":"40","author":"Lucieer","year":"2002","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_23","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Navulur, K. (2006). Multispectral Image Analysis Using the Object-Oriented Paradigm, CRC Press.","DOI":"10.1201\/9781420043075"},{"key":"ref_24","unstructured":"(2017, March 06). OWL Working Group OWL 2 Web Ontology Language Document Overview (Second Edition). Available online: https:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/owl-overview\/."},{"key":"ref_25","unstructured":"Kr\u00f6tzsch, M. (2012). Reasoning Web International Summer School, Springer."},{"key":"ref_26","unstructured":"(2016, December 12). REQUIEM: REsolution-Based QUery Rewriting for Expressive Models. Available online: http:\/\/www.cs.ox.ac.uk\/projects\/requiem\/."},{"key":"ref_27","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"186","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jal.2009.09.004","article-title":"Tractable query answering and rewriting under description logic constraints","volume":"8","author":"Motik","year":"2010","journal-title":"J. Appl. Log."},{"key":"ref_28","unstructured":"Ji, X. (2012). Research on the Method of Accuracy Assessment of the Object-Based Classification from Remotely Sensed Data. [Master\u2019s Thesis, Beijing Normal University]."}],"container-title":["ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2220-9964\/6\/4\/105\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,11]],"date-time":"2025-10-11T18:31:41Z","timestamp":1760207501000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2220-9964\/6\/4\/105"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2017,3,31]]},"references-count":28,"journal-issue":{"issue":"4","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2017,4]]}},"alternative-id":["ijgi6040105"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/ijgi6040105","relation":{},"ISSN":["2220-9964"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2220-9964","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2017,3,31]]}}}