3DUNetGSFormer: A deep learning pipeline for complex wetland mapping using generative adversarial networks and Swin transformer

Many ecosystems, particularly wetlands, are significantly degraded or lost as a result of climate change and anthropogenic activities. Simultaneously, developments in machine learning, particularly deep learning methods, have greatly improved wetland mapping, which is a critical step in ecosystem monitoring. Yet, present deep and very deep models necessitate a greater number of training data, which are costly, logistically challenging, and time-consuming to acquire. Thus, we explore and address the potential and possible limitations caused by the availability of limited ground-truth data for large-scale wetland mapping. To overcome this persistent problem for remote sensing data classification using deep learning models, we propose 3D UNet Generative Adversarial Network Swin Transformer (3DUNetGSFormer) to adaptively synthesize wetland training data based on each class's data availability. Both real and synthesized training data are then imported to a novel deep learning architecture consisting of cutting-edge Convolutional Neural Networks and vision transformers for wetland mapping. Results demonstrated that the developed wetland classifier obtained a high level of kappa coefficient, average accuracy, and overall accuracy of 96.99%, 97.13%, and 97.39%, respectively, for the data in three pilot sites in and around Grand Falls-Windsor, Avalon, and Gros Morne National Park located in Canada. The results show that the proposed methodology opens a new window for future high-quality wetland data generation and classification. The developed codes are available at https://github.com/aj1365/3DUNetGSFormer. •Large-scale complex wetland mapping methodology.•High performances and transferability for complex wetland mapping.•The use of feature extractor considerably improves wetland classification accuracy.•Validated in three study areas in Newfoundland in Canada through image interpretation and field data.