Semisupervised image classification with Laplacian support vector machines

This letter presents a semisupervised method based on kernel machines and graph theory for remote sensing image classification. The support vector machine (SVM) is regularized with the unnormalized graph Laplacian, thus leading to the Laplacian SVM (LapSVM). The method is tested in the challenging problems of urban monitoring and cloud screening, in which an adequate exploitation of the wealth of unlabeled samples is critical. Results obtained using different sensors, and with low number of training samples, demonstrate the potential of the proposed LapSVM for remote sensing image classification.