Comparison of Different Parameters of Feedforward Backpropagation Neural Networks in DEM Height Estimation for Different Terrain Types and Point Distributions

Abstract

Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) are commonly used for environment, engineering, and architecture-related studies. One of the most important factors for the accuracy of DEM generation is the process of spatial interpolation, which is used for estimating the height values of the grid cells. The use of machine learning methods, such as artificial neural networks for spatial interpolation, contributes to spatial interpolation with more accuracy. In this study, the performances of FBNN interpolation based on different parameters such as the number of hidden layers and neurons, epoch number, processing time, and training functions (gradient optimization algorithms) were compared, and the differences were evaluated statistically using an analysis of variance (ANOVA) test. This research offers significant insights into the optimization of neural network gradients, with a particular focus on spatial interpolation. The accuracy of the Levenberg–Marquardt training function was the best, whereas the most significantly different training functions, gradient descent backpropagation and gradient descent with momentum and adaptive learning rule backpropagation, were the worst. Thus, this study contributes to the investigation of parameter selection of ANN for spatial interpolation in DEM height estimation for different terrain types and point distributions.