A Deep Neural Network for Road Extraction with the Capability to Remove Foreign Objects with Similar Spectra

Abstract. Existing road extraction methods based on deep learning often struggle with distinguishing ground objects that share similar spectral information, such as roads and buildings. Consequently, this study proposes a dual encoder-decoder deep neural network to address road extraction in complex backgrounds. In the feature extraction stage, the first encoder-decoder designed for extracting road features. The second encoder-decoder utilized for extracting building features. During the feature fusion stage, road features and building features are integrated using a subtraction method. The resultant road features, constrained by building features, enhance the preservation of accurate road feature information. Within the feature fusion stage, road feature maps and building feature maps designated for fusion are input into the convolutional block attention module. This step aims to amplify the features of different channels and extract key information from diverse spatial positions. Subsequently, feature fusion is executed using the element-by-element subtraction method. The outcome is road features constrained by building features, thus preserving more precise road feature information. Experimental results demonstrate that the model successfully learns both road and building features concurrently. It effectively distinguishes between easily confused roads and buildings with similar spectral information, ultimately enhancing the accuracy of road extraction.