Land Use Land Cover Change Detection with Supervised classification in

QGIS
Installing the SCP Plugin
• One of the reasons QGIS is very effective in performing change detection is due to the numerous plugins it has. The Semi-
Automatic Classification Plugin allows for performing supervised classification, processing of images, and change detection
amidst many other use cases. To install the plugin in QGIS, navigate to Plugins and Click “Manage and Install Plugins”

• Once installed, the plugin is added to QGIS layout bar. The plugin contains SCP dock, SCP Working Toolbar and SCP editing
toolbar. If these, are not added, you can click on the empty space in the QGIS Layout, to activate it
Importing and Processing the Data
• The downloaded Landsat satellite image can be imported into QGIS by navigating to the folder, where it is stored on the
system using the QGIS Browser Panel and dragging the selected bands
 Creating Bandset
• The individual bands that we have are not sufficient to run our classification algorithm. We need to create a bandset that
combines all the information available in unique bands, to perform the image classification to produce LandCover for the
different periods. To do this, navigate to Bandset within the plugin

• Click on the this displays all bands available within the directory you have set, in previous steps. You can now add each
individual bands, by clicking on the “+” sign. As specified previously, we will be using Band 1 to 7, to create the bandset.
After adding the necessary bands, click on “RUN”. A prompt would appear to specify where to save the output. Ensure that
every result or output is saved in the same working folder, with self-descriptive names to avoid confusion with other layers
Supervised Image Classification
• For this tutorial, we will be using the Supervised classification technique, to produce distinct land cover maps for each
year. In Supervised image classification, the user uses training samples representative of the object ground, to classify the
image. The image is classified based on defined algorithms, such as minimum distance, maximum likelihood etc. The
classes created are used to categorize the image into different classes
Training Inputs
• Training inputs can be created by navigating to the “Training Input” within the SCP dock. Create and save the training
input file, within the working directory specified in the previous steps.
Training Classes
• Determining the classes is primarily dependent on the user and the purpose of the study. For change detection analysis,
we want to ensure that the individual unique land cover for each period contains similar land cover types, so as to
effectively compare and detect change. To create classes, navigate to the SCP dock, and click on the icon, name and
save the training input accordingly. For each unique class, ensure that the “C ID” is uniquely descriptive of individual
classes. Also name the class respectively, Agriculture, Urban and Water Body
Draw polygons within respective classes, ensuring the polygon is fully contained within the pixel
representing the classes, to ensure accuracy and precision of the result
Assessing the Spectral profile of the Classes
• To ensure that distinct classes are not confused together, we need to quantitatively assess the spectral signatures of the
classes. Highlight all the classes created, then Click on to add calculate signatures for the highlighted classes. After
running that successfully, click on the signature plot. Ensure that all classes are highlighted. It produces a spectral plot
as seen in the image below

• The spectral plot shows a visual representation of the training samples across the wavelength of the bands. Each included
band is represented as the vertical dotted line running across the plot. We can clearly see that the classes are mixed with
each other, this form of training input will produce wrongly classified pixels. We can, therefore, edit our classes, to reduce
this confusion between classes to ensure higher accuracy
Classification
• We can now run the classification after ensuring the classes are adequately and correctly selected. Navigate to the
“Classification” tab which can be found either within the DOCK or the SCP plugin toolbar

• Since we are using the “C ID”, ensure that the “C ID” is ticked. The plugin has three algorithms for classification, “Minimum
distance”, “Maximum Likelihood” and “Spectral Angle Mapper” . The minimum distance algorithm calculates the distance
between the mean of spectral signatures of the band and the value of each pixel is calculated band per band. The maximum
likelihood classifier classifies an image by calculating the statistical probability of individual class signatures. Lastly, the
spectral angle mapper classifies the image based on the spectral angle of the pixels.
• To ensure that the result produced is solely for the Area of interest demarcated, we would check “Apply mask” then
Click on the “RUN” button, it produces a prompt specifying where the output should be saved. You can also try other
algorithms apart from the Minimum distance algorithm used here, such as the Maximum Likelihood and Spectral Angle
Mapper. Also the thresholds can be edited too
The land cover image above was produced for 2015. You can also repeat the same steps above for the year 2021. Ensure that
new ROIs are created for the subsequent year
Change Detection
• After following the steps and creating the land cover maps. We now have two distinct land cover maps for years 2015 and
2024 respectively. To observe the notable changes between the two years, navigate to the SCP panel, and click on post-
processing and Land cover change.

• Within the Land cover change panel, the reference layer is the old classification layer which here is the 2015 Land cover
while the new classification is the new land cover, which is the 2021 layer. Ensure the unchanged “Report unchanged pixel”
is ticked also. Click “RUN”... The Land cover change tool produces an image depicting changes in the layer and a table
showing the pixels that have been transformed from one class to another.