International Journal of Remote Sensing

Vol. 27, Nos. 1214, July 2006, 26832702

A divergence operator to quantify texture from multi-spectral satellite

images

JORGE LIRA* and ALEJANDRO RODRIGUEZ

Instituto de Geofsica-UNAM, Cd. Universitaria, 04510 Mexico DF, Mexico

(Received 1 March 2004; in final form 18 March 2005 )

A divergence operator to measure the texture content in a multi-spectral image is

proposed. A multi-spectral image is modelled as an n-dimensional vector field, n
being the number of bands of the image. A pixel of the image is an n-dimensional
vector in this field. It is demonstrated that the flux variations of the vector field
are related to changes in texture in the image. A divergence operator measures
the flux variation and, hence, texture. In order to save computer memory, speed
up the divergence operator calculation and lessen the content of noise of the
image, principal component transformation is applied to the bands of the image.
The first three principal components are used to span the vector field. The partial
derivatives involved in the divergence operator are written as weighted finite
differences. To estimate these derivatives, cubes of three, five and seven voxels
per side are considered. The cube is systematically displaced to cover the entire
domain of the vector field. In each position of the cube, the divergence value is
calculated using the weighted finite difference approximation. This value is
written as a pixel in an output image file according to the Cartesian coordinates
defined by the location of the cube. This image file depicts the texture variations
of the multi-spectral image. The relation flux variation versus coarseness of
texture is discussed. Two examples, based on Landsat Thematic Mapper multi-
spectral and synthetic multi-spectral images, are presented and analysed.

1. Introduction
Texture is one of the elements in image analysis. The texture models reported in the
literature may be classified into three broad categories (Reed and du Buf 1993, Lira
and Frulla 1998): structured-based, feature-based and model-based. In the first
category the existence of detectable primitive elements is assumed. In the feature-
based methods, regions of constant and predetermined texture characteristics are
sought, while in a model-based technique the textures are conceived as the result of
an underlying stochastic process. This paper develops a model-based texture method
for multi-spectral images.
Texture from multi-spectral images has received attention in the scientific
literature (Shafarenko et al. 1997, Tseng and Lai 1999, Paschos 2000, Deng and
Manjunath 2001, Chen and Chen 2002). Some multi-spectral texture models are
derived by means of operators working directly in the spatial domain of the image.
An extension of autoregressive and Markov random field models for multi-spectral
images has been reported in the literature (Bennett and Khotanzad 1998). Using the

*Corresponding author. Email: lira@geofisica.unam.mx

International Journal of Remote Sensing
ISSN 0143-1161 print/ISSN 1366-5901 online # 2006 Taylor & Francis
http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals
DOI: 10.1080/01431160500300214
2684 J. Lira and A. Rodriguez

spatial correlation functions defined within and between bands of a multi-spectral

image, a colour texture is modelled (Wang and Healey 1998). With this model, the
recognition of colour texture is achieved independently of rotation, scale and
illumination. Based on the co-occurrence matrix, Rosenfeld et al. (1982) used the
distribution of absolute differences of pair of pixels for two-band images. Results
are presented for various values of d and b and three texture features. Cumani (1991)
proposed an extension to multi-spectral images of edge detectors originally devised
for mono-band images. These edge detectors are based on a measure of local
direction contrast in multi-spectral images. Drewniok (1994) generalized the
gradient operator to multi-spectral satellite images. In this work, it is clear that
edges from multi-spectral images are better defined as if extracted from each band
separately. From this, the density of edges may be used as a measure of multi-
spectral texture. In the same spatial domain, using the spectral co-occurrence
matrix, colour texture segmentation for clothing was achieved (Chang and Wang
1996). Hauta-Kasari et al. (1999) used the quantization of the spectral domain of a
set of multi-spectral images employing the Self-Organizing Map (Kohonen 2000).
The spectral co-occurrence matrix was then applied to this map. This spectral co-
occurrence matrix represents the pairs of quantized spectra and carries information
on the spatial dependency of spectral classes in the image. From this matrix, a set of
texture features is obtained. The value of the texture features was input into a
clustering procedure to represent texture classes.
The mapping of the image to some space other than the spatial domain is used to
extract colour texture. Thus, Tan and Kittler (1994) used the colour histogram and
the local linear transform to analyse colour texture. Colour spaces were used by
Paschos (1998, 2001) for colour texture analysis and texture recognition. Multi-scale
techniques developed by means of wavelet transforms were extended to colour
images introducing wavelet energy-correlation signatures (Van de Wouwer et al.
1999). These signatures were used, in turn, to characterize colour texture in a set of
colour images.
The scope and organization of the work presented here are as follows: (1) section
two deals with methods for mapping of a multi-spectral image into a vector field, a
formalization of divergence operator and the relationship between the flux of the
vector field and texture roughness; (2) section three describes in detail the algorithm
that measures the flux of the vector field. This algorithm generates a texture map
where the grey levels represent the roughness of texture; (3) section four provides
details about the multi-spectral images used to test the method; (4) section five
discusses the results achieved with the method and compares them with results
obtained from a generalized co-occurrence matrix (Rosenfeld et al. 1982). It is
demonstrates that the method produces better results than those derived from a
generalized co-occurrence matrix.
In brief, the objectives of this work are: (a) to demonstrate that a divergence
operator is suitable for extracting texture from the set of bands of a multi-spectral
image; and (b) to show that this operator can perform efficiently on a PC by using
the first three principal components of the image.

2. Methods
This section formalizes the mapping of a multi-spectral image into a vector field. It
begins by describing the acquisition of the image using a multi-spectral sensor set.
From this, a pixel is defined as an n-dimensional vector, n being the number of
 A divergence operator to quantify texture 2685

bands in a multi-spectral image. The construction of a vector field associated with a

multi-spectral image is then defined. Finally, a relationship is provided between the
flux of the vector field and the texture coarseness in the image.

2.1 Vector field of a multi-spectral image

Consider a rectangular discrete lattice L;{1, M}6{1, N}. Centred in each
node of L, a resolution cell named the instantaneous field of view (IFOV) is located
(Schowengerdt 1997). For each IFOV, an n-dimensional vector {b1,b2, bn} is
associated by means of a multi-spectral sensor set. The vector {b1,b2, bn}
represents the average spectral properties of an IFOV of the scene. This vector is
named a picture element (pixel) of a multi-spectral image. In other words, the IFOV
is a physical area in the scene, while the pixel is the digital number (DN) in the
image. Let the multi-spectral image g5{gi} be formed by the group of pixels
according to the following set gi5{bj(k,l)}i, " i. Where igN is the set {1,2, n}
representing the collection of bands of the multi-spectral image. The coordinates of
an image pixel are given by the integers (k,l) that belong to the set

k,l [A:fs,tjs,t[ , 1sM; 1tN g 1

Where (M,N) is the size of the image in the (x,y) directions, respectively, and N is the
semi-group of natural numbers. The pixel values themselves may assume integer
values according to the set

bi [B:fpjp[ , 0p2m {1g, Vi 2

Where mgN, and 7(m(12 in multi-spectral images. For m57, the possible range
of DN is [0, 127], while for m512, the range is [0, 4095]. In brief, a multi-spectral
digital image g is a function such that, g: L R B. On the other hand, let Xi be the set

Xi :fxi jxi [ , 0xi 2m {1g, Vi 3

The Cartesian product Xn5X16X26 Xn defines the set of the ordered n-tuple
(x1,x2, xn). Let (b1,b2, bn) the values of a pixel through the bands of the image;
xi5bi is equated, therefore (b1,b2, bn) is an n-tuple in this Cartesian coordinate
system. To every n-tuple (b1,b2, bn), a vector u is associated: u(x1,x2, xn) r
(b1,b2, bn). Let E be an n-dimensional discrete Euclidian space,EgNn. The
dimension of u is given by the Euclidian metric
" #1=2
X
n
kuk~ x2i 4
i~1

The set of vectors {u(x1,x2, xn)} is the result of the mapping of the multi-spectral
image onto a vector field. It is noted that not every n-tuple (x1,x2, xn) of the
domain D(Xn)gE, has a vector associated with the vector field, and an n-tuple
(x1,x2, xn) may have more than one vector associated with the vector field. Hence,
the vector field associated with the multi-spectral image is the set of vectors
U5{u(x1,x2, xn)} in the domain D(Xn)gE.
2686 J. Lira and A. Rodriguez

2.2 The divergence operator

The divergence operator (Arfken and Weber 1995) of the n-dimensional vector field
U is defined as
X
n
Lux
+:U~ i
5
i~1
Lxi

Where xi is the ith coordinate of a Cartesian coordinate system of an Euclidian

space, and uxi is the component of the vector field U5u(x1,x2, xn) along the
direction defined by xi. The derivatives involved in equation (5) cannot be obtained
in analytical form for a digital image; hence, a finite difference approximation is
introduced, as explained below.
The divergence operator measures the flux of a vector field. The flux is defined as
the density of field lines passing through a unitary area da. Let n be a unitary vector,
normal to the area da, hence, for a closed surface S the flux is given by

w~ U: nda 6

Let us consider now a hypercube of size dx1dx2dx3 dxn, where dxi is the side along
the coordinate direction xi. As a first approximation, the flux through the sides of
the hypercube is expressed as
wxi ~uxi x1 , . . . xi zdxi ,xiz1 , . . . xn {uxi x1 , . . . xn dx1 . . . dxi{1 dxiz1 . . . dxn , Vxi 7
Summing up the flux contributions wxi, " xi, and taking the limit as dxi R 0,
produces
X
n
Lux i
w~ 8
i~1
Lxi

Therefore, the divergence is a measure of the flux of the vector field. The divergence
may be calculated by means of the finite difference approximation given by equation
(7). To improve the quality of the results a weighted finite difference is used; this is
explained in section 3.1.

2.3 The relation: flux variation versus coarseness of texture

According to equation (6), the flux may be negative, zero or positive. A null quantity
indicates that no net flux crosses the hypercube. A smooth texture region is formed
by pixels of similar values. In the vector field representation of the multi-spectral
image, these pixels are clustered in a small region with homogeneous density.
Whenever the centre of the hypercube coincides with one of the pixels of such a kind
of cluster, no net flux is detected. A negative or positive quantity means that a net
flux crosses the hypercube. There is a net flux whether the texture changes from
smooth to rough: positive flux; or from rough to smooth: negative flux. To
summarize this, let us assume that U5rV where r is the density of the lines of flux of
the vector field U. For a unit volume, i.e. the hypercube, the continuity equation
Ln r
z+:rV~0 9
Lx1 Lx2 . . . Lxn
states that a net flow out of the volume results in a decrease in density inside the
 A divergence operator to quantify texture 2687

volume. The density r is a roughness parameter indicating the coarseness of image

texture. High changes in r are associated with coarse textures; low changes in r are
associated with smooth textures. Therefore, in the texture map: grey level ,hr. This
signifies that, in the resulting texture map, smooth textures are seen as dark grey
tones and rough textures are displayed as light grey tones. Intermediate texture
roughnesses are depicted in varying levels of grey tones.
A complementary view to the analysis of the continuity equation is the following:
According to equation (5) the divergence is the sum of the gradients in orthogonal
directions of the vector field. On the other hand, it has been reported in the literature
(Pietikainen and Rosenfeld 1982, Ojala et al. 1992) that edge-based models
produced by gradient operators may be used as a measure of texture in an image.
According to this, the divergence operator is a measure of edge density in a multi-
spectral feature space defined by the image. Therefore, the divergence operator
produces a measure of the texture associated with the vector field of a multi-spectral
image. In areas of smooth texture, the density of edges is low; hence, the divergence
produces values close to zero. As the texture becomes rougher, both the density of
edges and the value of the divergence increase.

3. Procedure and materials

Sections 3.1, 3.2 and 3.3 deal with details of divergence algorithm for texture
evaluation. For this, the rationale of the algorithm is first provided with the
inclusion of a block diagram. In addition, the method of application of divergence
and co-occurrence algorithms to tested multi-spectral images is given. Finally,
sections 3.4.1 and 3.4.2 give details of images employed in this research.

3.1 Algorithm for divergence calculation

The construction and processing of the vector field associated with the multi-
spectral image is related directly to the number of bands. The vector field of Landsat
Thematic Mapper (TM) images is of six dimensions since the thermal infrared band
has been discarded. To reduce the number of dimensions to a manageable size,
principal components transformation is applied to the multi-spectral image. This
transformation produces an image with zero correlation among the bands. In
addition to this, the most relevant information is allocated in the first principal
components, while the noise occupies the last components. For the Landsat TM
image shown in this research, the first three components accumulate 99.149% of the
variance of the original bands (table 1). On the grounds of this, it is asseverated that
Landsat TM images carry an intrinsic dimensionality of three (Lowitz 1978,

Table 1. Variance of principal components of tested image.

Mexico City
Eigenvalue Variance
823.972 81.070
134.813 13.264
48.938 4.815
4.543 0.447
3.537 0.348
0.564 0.055
2688 J. Lira and A. Rodriguez

Lillesand and Kiefer 2000). Intrinsic dimensionality for other multi-spectral images
can be devised easily. Because of the above, the algorithm for divergence calculation
works with principal components instead of the original bands of Landsat images.

3.2 Rationale of the algorithm

The basic steps of the algorithm to calculate the divergence operator are described in
figure 1(a) and detailed in the following text.
1. The bands of the image to be processed are loaded into RAM memory; the
algorithm accepts only 8-bit images. The algorithm accepts original bands, or
those resulting from the principal components transformation. The criterion
to select the first components resides in the intrinsic dimensionality of the
image. The use of principal components speeds up the calculation and
improves the quality of the results.
2. The dimension of the hypercube is determined according to the number of
bands involved in the calculation of the divergence. One of the examples
presented in this work deals with a Landsat TM image (figure 2(a)); the other
with a synthetic image formed by three bands (figure 3(a)). Therefore, for
these examples, the vector field is three-dimensional and the hypercube
reduces to a cube.
3. A vector field is constructed in line with the description provided in section
2.1; an example of a vector field is given in figure 1(b).

Figure 1. (a) Block diagram of divergence algorithm. (b) Vector field of a subset of Mexico
City image employing two bands.
 A divergence operator to quantify texture 2689

Figure 1. (Continued).

4. The spatial coordinates in the image of each vector of U are stored in a table.
5. A cube of 36363 voxels is considered. A binomial-like weighted function
(Jahne 1997) is assumed and assigned to the voxels of the cube sides. The
assignment is as follows: the centre voxel has a weight factor of 4, the four
voxels closest to the centre a weight factor of 2, and the four corners a weight
factor of 1. Cubes of 56565 voxels, or 76767 voxels may be used as well,
adjusting the weighting function according to the binomial function.
6. The centre voxel of the cube is systematically displaced (figure 4) through all
the points of the domain D(Xn). In each location of the cube, the flux is
calculated using expression (7) and the binomial-like weighting function.
7. The result of the flux calculation is written in an output image file: the texture
map. This is achieved with the help of the coordinate table constructed in step
4.
8. The histogram of the output image is stretched to the range [0, 255].
2690 J. Lira and A. Rodriguez

Figure 2. Mexico City image: (a) false colour composite [R,G,B]5[Principal component 3,
Principal component 2, Principal component 1]; (b) texture map derived from divergence
operator.

The use of principal components in this research is imposed by the following: (a)
satellite multi-spectral images have an intrinsic dimensionality of two (SPOT) or
three (TERRA/ASTER, Landsat TM), which means that the first two or three
principal components carry the most relevant information of the image; (b) those
 A divergence operator to quantify texture 2691

Figure 3. Synthetic image: (a) gray scale representation of synthetic image; (b) texture map
derived from divergence operator; (c) amplification of lower left quadrant and texture region;
(d) amplification of an upper region (black arrow in (a)).

components are almost noise free (Ricotta et al. 1999); (c) the memory demands of
the algorithm grow exponentially with the number of bands for n bands quantized
at 8 bits each the requirements are 256n bytes, i.e. the size of the vector field depends
only on the number of bands and the level of quantization. These requirements are
valid for direct computation, unless the vector field is constructed and processed by
parts, or the values in the bands are very coarsely quantized. For n>5, the
computational burden, in both memory demands and computing time, is
unmanageable on a PC. The algorithm is written in Delphi 6. On a Pentium III
@ 700 MHz with 256 MB RAM, the computing time is approximately one minute
for a three-band image of 204861800 pixels size.
2692 J. Lira and A. Rodriguez

Figure 4. Displacement of a cube through the vector field formed by any three bands i, j and
k.

3.3 Application of the algorithm

The divergence operator was applied to the first three principal components of a
Landsat image and to the original bands of a synthetic image. Results are presented
for a cube of 36363 voxels; however, tests with cubes of 56565, 76767,
96969 and 11611611 voxels were carried out as well. For display purposes only,

Figure 5. Details of a water body with varying sediment concentration.

 A divergence operator to quantify texture 2693

Figure 6. Texture maps of (a) Mexico City image derived from generalized co-occurrence
algorithm; (b) synthetic image derived from generalized co-occurrence algorithm.

histogram equalization was applied to tested images (figures 2, 3, 5, 6 and 7). In

addition to this, and for the sake of comparison, both the satellite and the synthetic
images were analysed by means of a generalized co-occurrence matrix algorithm
proposed by Rosenfeld and co-workers (1982). The window used in this algorithm
was fixed at three voxels per side and employed the entropy feature. For this
algorithm, the same bands used in the divergence algorithm were input for texture
analysis. Results of this analysis are discussed in sections 4 and 5.

3.4 Tested multi-spectral images

To show the validity of the above algorithm, a set of two examples is provided in
detail in this research. The first example deals with a multi-spectral satellite image of
2694 J. Lira and A. Rodriguez

the Landsat TM series. The second example is prepared from a multi-spectral

synthetic image. Details of these are given in the following two sections.
3.4.1 Multi-spectral satellite images. The goodness and limitations of the
algorithm are based on extensive test with SPOT, TERRA/ASTER and Landsat
TM multi-spectral images. These are mid-resolution images; tests with high-
resolution images were not conducted. Full details for one Landsat multi-spectral
image are given to evaluate the goodness of the divergence to measure texture
variations. For multi-spectral satellite images, only the first three principal
components were used; therefore, the vector field is three-dimensional. From a
certain pixel (xi,yi), a sub-image was extracted; details of this are provided in table 2.
The Landsat image is not geocoded precisely because this is not required to test the
goodness of the method. None the less, this image is co-registered to a map in order
to evaluate texture results. The first three principal components are calculated from
the mentioned sub-image. Band 6 is not included in the principal components
transformation due to a different pixel size. The false colour composite (FCC)
[R,G,B]5[Principal component 3, Principal component 2, Principal component 1] is

Figure 7. Comparisons of RGB composite, texture image and a map of selected areas.
 A divergence operator to quantify texture 2695

Figure 7. (Continued).

shown in figure 2(a). This image is named Mexico City. A general description of this
sub-image follows.
The image named Mexico City covers the metropolitan area of one of the largest
cities in the world. This image also includes: (1) a forest zone to the south-west of the
city; (2) a series of agriculture fields to the south and to the west; (3) deforested areas
to the south-west. The vegetation cover is very much altered by urban growth and
anthropogenic activities; vegetation types include pines, oaks, shrubs, grass and
various agriculture fields. A group of water bodies are visible to the north-east. On
the grounds of visual assessment by a photo-interpreter, field work and available
maps, the following are identified: texture coarseness varies from smooth in the

Table 2. Geographical location of tested image.

Pixel size (m2) Path/Row Zone Date xi,yi Pixels Lines

28.5628.5 26/47 Mexico city 14 January 1791,1 2048 1800
1996
2696 J. Lira and A. Rodriguez

agriculture fields and deforested areas, intermediate in the shrubs/grass areas, and
rough in the city and forested areas. Details of these texture features are provided in
section 4.2. The photo-interpretation work was done using the FCC shown in
figure 2(a).
3.4.2 Synthetic multi-spectral image. The usefulness of a synthetic image consists
in having well-defined texture regions prior to the application of the divergence
operator. Therefore, a synthetic image formed by three bands was used to test the
validity of the algorithm described in section 3.1. The size of this image is: 6206313
pixels. The use of principal components of the multi-spectral image implies non-
correlation among the components. Instead, the synthetic image bands show some
correlation; this is shown in table 3. The divergence algorithm works for both non-
correlated and correlated bands. A grey scale representation of this synthetic image
is shown in figure 3(a). At the scale defined by a cube of 36363 voxels there are
basically four texture regions in the synthetic image:
1. a regular grid on the lower left quadrant (see figure 3(c)) this is a coarse
texture;
2. a region ranging diagonally across the image this is a medium-coarse
texture;
3. a region formed by two sections, one on the upper part and one on the right
side of the image this is a smooth texture (see explanation below);
4. a background with uniform pixel values this is an extreme case of a very
smooth texture.
Region 3 in the above list is smooth at the scale determined by the size of the cube;
at a greater scale, this texture would be rough. In other words, for a cube of 36363
voxels, region 3 appears smooth, while for a cube of 96969 voxels the texture
appears rough. The region of the regular grid is amplified in figure 3(c). The
alternating pixel values that form this grid form a coarse texture at the scale defined
by the size of the cube. To state precisely the texture regions listed as 2 and 3,
amplification (figure 3(d)) of an area of figure 3(a) must be considered. The area for
this amplification is indicated by a black arrow on figure 3(a). In figure 3(d), for a
cube of 36363, the region to the lower right of (A) appears as smooth, while to the
lower right of (B) appears as rough. In (A), the slight variations in pixel values are
detected by the algorithm as smooth, while in (B) the noticeable variations in pixel
values are detected as intermediate rough. Instead, a cube the size of figure 3(d)
would detect the entire region as rough.

4. Results
This section first provides an analysis of the goodness and limitations of the
divergence algorithm; and then gives a detailed discussion of results. The quality of
results were evaluated in the following ways: (a) the RGB composites and the

Table 3. Correlation among bands of the synthetic image.

Band 1 Band 2 Band 3

Band 1 1.0000 0.1584 0.1176
Band 2 0.1584 1.0000 0.9972
Band 3 0.1176 0.9972 1.0000
 A divergence operator to quantify texture 2697

texture images were inspected by a photo-interpreter; (b) the synthetic image set the
grounds for identification of texture regions; the existence of well-known texture
regions in this image allows the verification of texture segmentation by means of the
divergence operator; (c) the use of field work data and available maps for the study
area defined by the image named Mexico City. The grey levels depicting the texture
for satellite images are shown in figures 2(b), 5, 6(a), 7(a) and 7(b); for the synthetic
image in figures 3(b), 3(c), 3(d) and 6(b). On the grounds of this evaluation, the
explanation of figures 2(b), 3(b), 3(c), 3(d), 5, 6(a), 6(b), 7(a) and 7(b) is given in
sections 4.2 and 4.3.

4.1 Goodness and limitations of the algorithm

Extensive tests with mid-resolution satellite images such as SPOT, TERRA/ASTER
and Landsat TM were performed; no test was conducted with high resolution
imagery such as IKONOS or QuickBird. Results of these tests show that the
algorithm has a number of characteristics.
1. The construction of the vector field depends upon the number of bands and
the number of quantized levels (256 levels in many satellite images).
2. The computer load of the algorithm is directly proportional to the number of
bands, the number of quantized levels and the size of the cube.
3. The algorithm performs fast for three-dimensional vector fields.
4. The algorithm does not require input parameters; the size of the cube may be
used to devise texture at different scales.
5. If the histogram of the bands image is modified prior to the divergence
calculation poor results may be generated. Best results are obtained from
original raw data.
6. The algorithm may fail when the vector field density is low, this arises when
the image is coarsely quantized and for small sized images.
7. The noise content in the image affects the quality of results.
8. The texture borders may be widened due to the finite size of the cube.
9. The scale of the texture discernible by the algorithm is determined by the size
of the cube. The size of texture features is determined by the size of the cube.
A cube of 36363 discerns texture features of three pixels wide.

Provided the above conditions are met, detailed texture maps may be prepared for
multi-spectral images.

4.2 Multi-spectral satellite image: Mexico City

The discussion of results is organized as follows: first, a general description of
texture coarseness in the metropolitan area is provided and, secondly, a detailed
analysis using selected areas and a map generated in the same year as the acquisition
date of the image are given.
4.2.1 General description. The network of roads, streets, avenues, causeways and
drives of the metropolitan area are clearly distinguishable in figure 2(b). This
network is in light tones with varying shades of grey according to the building
density of the city; this indicates a medium to coarse texture. Coarse texture, such as
wooded areas, is seen as varying shades of light tones. The higher the density of the
wood the lighter the shade. Smooth texture areas, such as agriculture fields, flat bare
soil, deforested patches and idle lots, are visible as dark shades. A rectangular golf
2698 J. Lira and A. Rodriguez

course, located in the middle of the image, is seen as dark shades too. A scale of
texture coarseness versus shade of grey is included in figure 2(b).
A special mention is deserved by the texture appearance of the rectangular water
body located to the north-east of the image. At first sight, this body should show a
smooth texture, i.e. a dark grey tone. However, it appears as light tones, indicating a
coarse texture. The explanation for this is the following: The sensor on board the
Landsat platform is calibrated to measure the levels of reflectivity from the land
surface. The reflectivity levels from water bodies are, in general, much lower
compared with land reflectivity. Only water bodies with a high concentration of
sediments show a relatively high reflectivity signal. Hence, the signal to noise ratio of
water bodies is, in general, very poor. A poor signal to noise ratio occurs when
In>Is, where In and Is are the intensities of the noise and the signal, respectively.
Therefore, the light tones of the water body are associated with the texture of noise
signal and not with the signal itself. To confirm that the algorithm is able to detect
texture associated with noise, a portion of a Landsat TM image is shown where a
water body with varying levels of sediments is clearly visible (figure 5). As the signal
to noise ratio becomes poor, the texture roughness increases. The texture is detected
as smooth in areas with high sediment concentration where the signal to noise ratio
is good. For low sediment concentration, where the signal to noise ratio is poor, the
texture is depicted as rough. The divergence operator is applied after principal
components analysis, which places the relevant information in the first components,
leaving the noise in the last components. However, the remnants of the banding and
coherent electronic noise (Lillesand and Kiefer 2000) are still visible in the texture
associated with the water body. This is a good indicator of the divergence capability
to measure subtle texture variations.
A texture feature that is worthy of mention is the set of roads located to the right
of the image. Streets and avenues in the city appear in general as smooth texture;
however, the roads to the right are shown in the texture image as bright tones,
indicating a rough texture. The explanation for this is that different conditions
prevail in inner roads in the city and vicinities. There are three possible scenarios for
roads: (a) small roads surrounded by buildings these roads almost disappear in the
texture image (middle of figure 7(a); (b) wide roads with no division between lanes
these roads appear as smooth texture (left of figure 7(b)); and (c) wide roads with
division between lanes (three roads to the right of texture image) these roads
appear as intermediate to rough texture; the higher and the stronger the division, the
coarser the texture. The roads that are to the right of the image are highways with an
important structure that divides the lanes; this produces a rough texture in the
texture image.
The texture image obtained by means of the co-occurrence matrix shows low
contrast and poor details (figure 6(a)). The same texture elements appear in the
texture images generated by the divergence and co-occurrence algorithms. However,
the divergence operator produces better details and definition. It is worth
mentioning the following: the divergence operator maps the vector field of the
multi-spectral image into a grey scale image where each grey level represents texture
coarseness. The grey tone variations in the texture image must no be taken as
manifestations of texture itself; rather, the grey tones are related directly to texture
coarseness, as indicated in the scale included in figures 2(b), 6(a) and 6(b). Grey tone
variations in the texture image indicate texture coarseness changes, as detailed
in section 2.3. According to this, the texture image obtained from the
 A divergence operator to quantify texture 2699

divergence operator is clearly superior to that generated by means of the co-

occurrence matrix.
4.2.2 Detailed discussion. This discussion is organized according to the function of
texture objects in the image; six objects are selected: (1) an idle lot with smooth
surface (figure 7(a) left); (2) a high density urban area (figure 7(a) middle); (3) a
medium density urban area with a portion of grass/shrub (figure 7(a) right); (4) a
golf course with smooth surface (figure 7(b) left); (5) a forest/deforested area
(figure 7(b) middle); and (6) an agriculture field (figure 7(b) right). Figures 7(a) and
7(b) are composed of the following: first row is the RGB colour composite of study
area; second row is texture coarseness produced by the divergence algorithm; and
third row is a map. Identification numbers of these objects are indicated in
figures 2(a), 7(a) and 7(b). The map is co-registered to the RGB colour composite
and to the texture image. The original toponymy of the map is kept. The following
discussion is based on scene features depicted by the map, the texture roughness
shown in the texture image and the scene features shown in the RGB colour
composite. The agreement with scene features, texture roughness and map features
is very good. Field work was carried out to confirm the presence of scene features
depicted in the map.
1. Idle lot. This idle lot includes a football field surrounded by an urban built-up
environment. For high density urban areas at the lower left, the texture
appears rough (bright grey tones), as the density diminish to the right, texture
smoothes (dark grey tones). The idle lot is a feature in the scene with a flat
surface; therefore its texture is smooth. Some other small idle lots, at the upper
left and upper right, show their smooth texture as well. At the scale of the
image, only wide streets are detected with smooth texture.
2. High density urban area. The high density of buildings shows as rough texture;
some idle lots and parks intermingled with the urban built-up area appear as
smooth texture. The size, distribution and space between buildings in this area
is not absolutely homogeneous; therefore, the texture image shows some
variations in texture that appear as bright tones with some medium tones.
3. Medium density urban area. This medium density urban built-up area appears
as intermediate texture roughness. Part of the image contains a grass/shrub
area which appears as intermediate or smooth texture, depending on the
flatness of the scene surface. The frontier between grass/shrub and urban
built-up area is clearly differentiated.
4. Golf course. A golf course with smooth surface appears as smooth texture.
This golf course is surrounded by an urban built-up area with varying density.
An idle lot to the right of the golf course is shown with smooth texture as well.
Wide streets are shown with smooth texture. In this area, there are various
parks intermingled with the urban built-up area. Depending on the density of
the urban built-up area and the distribution of the parks, the texture appears
as smooth in the parks, and intermediate or rough in the city, with various
grey tones in the texture image.
5. Forest/deforested. A top of a volcano named Ajusco is shown as smooth
texture. The half highest elevation of this volcano is deforested and shows in
the RGB composite as light yellow, some snow is shown as light blue. Both,
the deforested area and the snow present a smooth surface at the scale of the
Landsat image. In the map, the deforested area is presented in brown and
2700 J. Lira and A. Rodriguez

white tones. The shape and the area of the deforested area agree well in the
RBG composite, the texture image and the map. It is worth mentioning that in
this area some shadows cover part of the volcano; even under these
conditions, the algorithm is able to detect the right texture.
6. Agriculture field. A rather smooth surface with various agriculture fields
intermingled with grass is shown as intermediate and smooth texture. A gully
to the right shows a coarser texture than that of the agriculture and grass
fields.

4.3 Synthetic multi-spectral image

The texture map of the synthetic image depicting four texture regions is shown in
figure 3(b). The lower left quadrant of the image shows a coarse texture due to the
fine regular grid, this is clearly seen in the amplification of figure 3(c). This coarse
texture is visible as white tone in the texture map. On the border between the image
and the background in this quadrant, there is a series of smooth intrusions onto the
image; these are shown as medium grey tones in the texture map (figure 3(c)). The
diagonal region crossing the image is visible as medium grey tones, indicating an
intermediate coarseness of texture. The area surrounding the image on the upper
and right parts is shown as dark grey tones, implying that this is a smooth texture.
The background of the image results in black in the texture map because this is an
extreme case of texture smoothness.
The texture image from the co-occurrence algorithm shows (figure 6(b)) the same
texture structure as the texture structure from the divergence operator. However, a
notable difference is appreciated on the lower left portion of this image (see
figure 3(c)). In this area, the divergence operator produces a coarse texture due to
the regular grid-pattern visible in the image. Instead, the co-occurrence algorithm
enhances this grid-pattern, producing a medium coarse texture. Nevertheless, the
divergence operator produces better detail and contrast.

5. Conclusions
A divergence operator to extract the texture content of multi-spectral images has
been designed and tested. This operator was applied to several multi-spectral
images, producing good results. A comparison of this operator with a generalized
co-occurrence algorithm shows that the divergence is capable of producing a good
description of texture coarseness from a multi-spectral image. The divergence
operator carries no parameters. The finite size of the cube and the binomial
weighting function are to estimate the value of the involved partial derivatives. The
dimension of the cube sets a limit to the texture feature size detectable by this
method. In addition to this, the dimension of the cube may be used to derive texture
at different scales. The divergence operator is unmanageable on a PC for five or
more bands. However, the intrinsic dimensionality of Landsat TM images is close to
three. Therefore, the first three principal components carry the relevant information
contained in the image. On the other hand, the principal components transforma-
tion places the noise in the last components. In this sense, the use of the first three
components improves the quality of results and lessens the demands of memory and
computing time. For other multi-spectral image types, such as SPOT or TERRA/
ASTER, the principal components may be employed as well. This work indicates
that the greater the spectral depth (intrinsic dimensionality) of the images, the better
 A divergence operator to quantify texture 2701

the performance of the divergence to detect textures. In brief, the divergence

operator is an efficient method to measure texture coarseness from the set of bands
of a multi-spectral image.

Acknowledgement
The authors thank Arturo Rodriguez for the photo-interpretation task.

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