High-resolution satellite image sources for disaster management in urban areas

Abstract

With the rapid development of Earth observation technology and geospatial information technology, disaster managers (in the broadest sense) now have power tools capable of collecting and integrating data from various sources in an efficient and cost-effective manner. These properties make it particularly attractive to disaster management support activities. This paper examines the problems of geospatial data acquisition for disaster management with a focus, in particular, on urban environments from two perspectives: geospatial data requirements and the role which high-resolution satellite imagery (0.6 - 5 m) can play in satisfying these geospatial information requirements, and effective image exploitation methods. We focus on the potential of available very high-resolution commercial satellite image data for rapid urban mapping and discuss the example of automated building and road extraction from pan-sharpened IKONOS and QuickBird images. © 2005 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.