Fine-Grained Land Use Remote Sensing Mapping in Karst Mountain Areas Using Deep Learning with Geographical Zoning and Stratified Object Extraction

Karst mountain areas, as complex geological systems formed by carbonate rock development, possess unique three-dimensional spatial structures and hydrogeological processes that fundamentally influence regional ecosystem evolution, land resource assessment, and sustainable development strategy formul...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Bo Li, Zhongfa Zhou, Tianjun Wu, Jiancheng Luo
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2025-07-01
Series:Remote Sensing
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/17/14/2368
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1850072133788499968
author Bo Li
Zhongfa Zhou
Tianjun Wu
Jiancheng Luo
author_facet Bo Li
Zhongfa Zhou
Tianjun Wu
Jiancheng Luo
author_sort Bo Li
collection DOAJ
description Karst mountain areas, as complex geological systems formed by carbonate rock development, possess unique three-dimensional spatial structures and hydrogeological processes that fundamentally influence regional ecosystem evolution, land resource assessment, and sustainable development strategy formulation. In recent years, through the implementation of systematic ecological restoration projects, the ecological degradation of karst mountain areas in Southwest China has been significantly curbed. However, the research on the fine-grained land use mapping and quantitative characterization of spatial heterogeneity in karst mountain areas is still insufficient. This knowledge gap impedes scientific decision-making and precise policy formulation for regional ecological environment management. Hence, this paper proposes a novel methodology for land use mapping in karst mountain areas using very high resolution (VHR) remote sensing (RS) images. The innovation of this method lies in the introduction of strategies of geographical zoning and stratified object extraction. The former divides the complex mountain areas into manageable subregions to provide computational units and introduces a priori data for providing constraint boundaries, while the latter implements a processing mechanism with a deep learning (DL) of hierarchical semantic boundary-guided network (HBGNet) for different geographic objects of building, water, cropland, orchard, forest-grassland, and other land use features. Guanling and Zhenfeng counties in the Huajiang section of the Beipanjiang River Basin, China, are selected to conduct the experimental validation. The proposed method achieved notable accuracy metrics with an overall accuracy (<i>OA</i>) of 0.815 and a mean intersection over union (<i>mIoU</i>) of 0.688. Comparative analysis demonstrated the superior performance of advanced DL networks when augmented with priori knowledge in geographical zoning and stratified object extraction. The approach provides a robust mapping framework for generating fine-grained land use data in karst landscapes, which is beneficial for supporting academic research, governmental analysis, and related applications.
format Article
id doaj-art-c0165d8ce47b4e8f83bd956d1b7e357f
institution DOAJ
issn 2072-4292
language English
publishDate 2025-07-01
publisher MDPI AG
record_format Article
series Remote Sensing
spelling doaj-art-c0165d8ce47b4e8f83bd956d1b7e357f2025-08-20T02:47:09ZengMDPI AGRemote Sensing2072-42922025-07-011714236810.3390/rs17142368Fine-Grained Land Use Remote Sensing Mapping in Karst Mountain Areas Using Deep Learning with Geographical Zoning and Stratified Object ExtractionBo Li0Zhongfa Zhou1Tianjun Wu2Jiancheng Luo3School of Karst Science/School of Geography and Environment Science, Guizhou Normal University, Guiyang 550025, ChinaSchool of Karst Science/School of Geography and Environment Science, Guizhou Normal University, Guiyang 550025, ChinaSchool of Land Engineering, Chang’an University, Xi’an 710064, ChinaState Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing and Digital Earth, Aerospace Information Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, ChinaKarst mountain areas, as complex geological systems formed by carbonate rock development, possess unique three-dimensional spatial structures and hydrogeological processes that fundamentally influence regional ecosystem evolution, land resource assessment, and sustainable development strategy formulation. In recent years, through the implementation of systematic ecological restoration projects, the ecological degradation of karst mountain areas in Southwest China has been significantly curbed. However, the research on the fine-grained land use mapping and quantitative characterization of spatial heterogeneity in karst mountain areas is still insufficient. This knowledge gap impedes scientific decision-making and precise policy formulation for regional ecological environment management. Hence, this paper proposes a novel methodology for land use mapping in karst mountain areas using very high resolution (VHR) remote sensing (RS) images. The innovation of this method lies in the introduction of strategies of geographical zoning and stratified object extraction. The former divides the complex mountain areas into manageable subregions to provide computational units and introduces a priori data for providing constraint boundaries, while the latter implements a processing mechanism with a deep learning (DL) of hierarchical semantic boundary-guided network (HBGNet) for different geographic objects of building, water, cropland, orchard, forest-grassland, and other land use features. Guanling and Zhenfeng counties in the Huajiang section of the Beipanjiang River Basin, China, are selected to conduct the experimental validation. The proposed method achieved notable accuracy metrics with an overall accuracy (<i>OA</i>) of 0.815 and a mean intersection over union (<i>mIoU</i>) of 0.688. Comparative analysis demonstrated the superior performance of advanced DL networks when augmented with priori knowledge in geographical zoning and stratified object extraction. The approach provides a robust mapping framework for generating fine-grained land use data in karst landscapes, which is beneficial for supporting academic research, governmental analysis, and related applications.https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/17/14/2368karst mountain areasfine-grained land use mappingvery high resolution remote sensing imagesgeographical zoningstratified object extraction
spellingShingle Bo Li
Zhongfa Zhou
Tianjun Wu
Jiancheng Luo
Fine-Grained Land Use Remote Sensing Mapping in Karst Mountain Areas Using Deep Learning with Geographical Zoning and Stratified Object Extraction
Remote Sensing
karst mountain areas
fine-grained land use mapping
very high resolution remote sensing images
geographical zoning
stratified object extraction
title Fine-Grained Land Use Remote Sensing Mapping in Karst Mountain Areas Using Deep Learning with Geographical Zoning and Stratified Object Extraction
title_full Fine-Grained Land Use Remote Sensing Mapping in Karst Mountain Areas Using Deep Learning with Geographical Zoning and Stratified Object Extraction
title_fullStr Fine-Grained Land Use Remote Sensing Mapping in Karst Mountain Areas Using Deep Learning with Geographical Zoning and Stratified Object Extraction
title_full_unstemmed Fine-Grained Land Use Remote Sensing Mapping in Karst Mountain Areas Using Deep Learning with Geographical Zoning and Stratified Object Extraction
title_short Fine-Grained Land Use Remote Sensing Mapping in Karst Mountain Areas Using Deep Learning with Geographical Zoning and Stratified Object Extraction
title_sort fine grained land use remote sensing mapping in karst mountain areas using deep learning with geographical zoning and stratified object extraction
topic karst mountain areas
fine-grained land use mapping
very high resolution remote sensing images
geographical zoning
stratified object extraction
url https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/17/14/2368
work_keys_str_mv AT boli finegrainedlanduseremotesensingmappinginkarstmountainareasusingdeeplearningwithgeographicalzoningandstratifiedobjectextraction
AT zhongfazhou finegrainedlanduseremotesensingmappinginkarstmountainareasusingdeeplearningwithgeographicalzoningandstratifiedobjectextraction
AT tianjunwu finegrainedlanduseremotesensingmappinginkarstmountainareasusingdeeplearningwithgeographicalzoningandstratifiedobjectextraction
AT jianchengluo finegrainedlanduseremotesensingmappinginkarstmountainareasusingdeeplearningwithgeographicalzoningandstratifiedobjectextraction