Abstract
The clustering program ISOCLS developed at the Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas, has been extensively used in the pattern analysis and classification of remote sensor data collected by aircraft and by the Earth Resources Technology Satellite ERTS-1. This paper discusses the theory behind this clustering algorithm. Several new ideas that have been incorporated in ISOCLS are discussed.· Among these are the novel philosophy of operation behind the procedure, which assumes that a population (i.e. a class or a cluster) can be treated as the union of an appropriate number of subpopulations, and the termination of the clustering program by a "chaining algorithm." Finally, this paper reports the results of the application of ISOC1S to an-investigation on rangeland vegetation mapping using ERTS-1 data.
Date of this Version
10-1973