Using high-resolution satellite imagery to determine hazelnut planted areas in Istanbul province

Abstract

The geographical inventory of hazelnut for the region is needed both for the protection of hazelnut cultivation fields in the city master plan of Istanbul and for the implementation of the hazelnut policy of the Ministry of Agriculture. Commonly cultivated between the northern latitudes of 36' and 41' under specific climate conditions, hazelnuts are native to North Anatolia, where they have grown wildly or been cultivated for roughly 2500 years. In Istanbul, hazelnuts are cultivated to the north of the province, particularly in Sile and its vicinity along the Anatolian shores of the Black Sea. This project illustrates the possibility of determining hazelnut-planted areas using high-resolution satellite images. The study used as the data IKONOS pan-sharpened images acquired in June 2005 with a resolution of 4 m multispectral and 1 m pancromatic. A fusion technique was performed on the satellite images to obtain a pansharpened image with a 1-m resolution. The project uses two methods, which are classification and on-screen manual digitising. The results of the two methods were compared to test their performance.