Extraction of Igune, a Traditional Japanese Windbreak Forest, Based on K-Means Clustuering of Spot6 Imagery

The windbreak forests called as 'Igune' are planted in the surroundings of farmers' dwellings, in several flat agricultural regions, mainly in the Tohoku region of Japan. They bring many benefits to the rural society, but require maintenance. Satellite remote sensing data are useful for the scientific assessment of Igune, because they have a wid geographical distribution. In this study, a method to analyze SPOT 6 data obtained in early May by K-means clustering is proposed. A dataset based on the multispectral image combined with vegetation indices, a dataset based on the multispectral image combined with texture features, and a dataset based on the pan-sharpened image combined with texture features, were analyzed and compared. The optimum number of clusters was determined to be seven by experimental analysis. To extract an Igune with an area of less than 500 m2, pan-sharpened images, combined with efficient texture features, are suitable. Further, the multispectral image, combined with the vegetation indices, is suitable for extracting Igune with areas more than 500 m2, Therefore, SPOT 6 data are expected to be useful for assessing the distribution of Igune.