Applying tree-based ensemble algorithms to the classification of ecological zones using multi-temporal multi-source remote-sensing data

The decision tree method has grown fast in the past two decades and its performance in classification is promising. The tree-based ensemble algorithms have been used to improve the performance of an individual tree. In this study, we compared four basic ensemble methods, that is, bagging tree, random forest, AdaBoost tree and AdaBoost random tree in terms of the tree size, ensemble size, band selection (BS), random feature selection, classification accuracy and efficiency in ecological zone classification in Clark County, Nevada, through multi-temporal multi-source remote-sensing data. Furthermore, two BS schemes based on feature importance of the bagging tree and AdaBoost tree were also considered and compared. We conclude that random forest or AdaBoost random tree can achieve accuracies at least as high as bagging tree or AdaBoost tree with higher efficiency; and although bagging tree and random forest can be more efficient, AdaBoost tree and AdaBoost random tree can provide a significantly higher accuracy. All ensemble methods provided significantly higher accuracies than the single decision tree. Finally, our results showed that the classification accuracy could increase dramatically by combining multi-temporal and multi-source data set.