Automatic characterization or categorization of portions of an input multispectral image based on a selected reference multispectral image. Sets (e.g., vectors) of radiometric descriptors of pixels of each component of a hierarchical representation of the input multispectral image can be collectively manipulated to obtain a set of radiometric descriptors for the component. Each component can be labeled as a (e.g., relatively) positive or negative instance of at least one reference multispectral image (e.g., mining materials, crops, etc.) through a comparison of the set of radiometric descriptors of the component and a set of radiometric descriptors for the reference multispectral image. Pixels may be labeled (e.g., via color, pattern, etc.) as positive or negative instances of the land use or type of the reference multispectral image in a resultant image based on components within which the pixels are found.