Semi-Automatic Classification Plugin: A Python tool for the download and processing of remote sensing images in QGIS

The Semi-Automatic Classification Plugin is a Python plugin for the software QGIS (QGIS Development Team, 2021) developed with the overall objective to facilitate land cover monitoring by people whose main field is not strictly remote sensing, but that could benefit from remote sensing analysis. The Semi-Automatic Classification Plugin provides a set of intertwined tools and a user interface for easing and automating the phases of land cover classification, from the download of remote sensing images, to the preprocessing (i.e. tools for preparing the data to the analysis or other calculations), the processing (i.e. tools for performing the classification of land cover or perform analysis), and postprocessing (i.e. tools for assessing the classification accuracy, refining the classification, or integrating additional data). The processing of remote sensing data can be computationally intensive, therefore most of the developed tools use Python multiprocessing to exploit the system CPU and RAM by splitting the work among multiple subprocesses. The aim of this paper is to describe the main characteristics of the Semi-Automatic Classification Plugin for the land cover classification of remote sensing images.