Analyzing the Results of ERDAS Imagine 16.7.0 and ArcGIS Pro 3.0.3 in the Process of Creating Land Cover Maps Using Landsat 8 Data

This research paper presents a comparative analysis of ArcGIS Pro and ERDAS Imagine for land cover mapping using Landsat 8 data in Khartoum, Sudan. Accurate land cover mapping is essential for various applications in earth science and geography, particularly in regions like Khartoum, located at the convergence of the Blue and White Nile rivers. This research assesses the accuracy of land cover maps produced by ArcGIS Pro 3.0.3 and ERDAS Imagine 16.7.0 using the maximum likelihood classification type for supervised classification. Classes include bare soil, urban, vegetation, and water are the main subjects of the evaluation. The findings indicate that ArcGIS Pro outperformed ERDAS Imagine, which obtained an overall accuracy of 86% with a kappa value of 0.81333, with an overall classification accuracy of 92.50% and a kappa statistics value of 0.9063. Moreover, ArcGIS Pro demonstrated superior proficiency in delineating urban and bare soil features. These findings suggest that ArcGIS Pro is a better fit for land cover mapping projects in Khartoum, providing enhanced performance and accuracy, especially in urban and bare soil environments.