Prior-knowledge-based spectral mixture analysis for impervious surface mapping

In this study, we developed a prior-knowledge-based spectral mixture analysis (PKSMA) to map impervious surfaces by using endmembers derived separately for high- and low-density urban regions. First, an urban area was categorized into high- and low-density urban areas, using a multi-step classification method. Next, in high-density urban areas that were assumed to have only vegetation and impervious surfaces (ISs), the vegetation–impervious model (V–I) was used in a spectral mixture analysis (SMA) with three endmembers: vegetation, high albedo, and low albedo. In low-density urban areas, the vegetation–impervious–soil model (V–I–S) was used in an SMA analysis with four endmembers: high albedo, low albedo, soil, and vegetation. The fraction of IS with high and low albedo in each pixel was combined to produce the final IS map. The root mean-square error (RMSE) of the IS map produced using PKSMA was about 11.0%, compared to 14.52% only using four-endmember SMA. Particularly in high-density urban areas, PKSMA (RMSE = 6.47%) showed better performance than four-endmember (15.91%). The results indicate that PKSMA can improve IS mapping compared to traditional SMA by using appropriately selected endmembers and is particularly strong in high-density urban areas.     

高分辨率遥感影像图制作的镶嵌线自动提取

为更好地发挥遥感技术在城市规划地图制作中的应用,高分辨率遥感影像成为城市地图制作中最重要的数据源。面对地物信息复杂、建筑物众多的城市地区,如何快速提取高分辨率遥感影像地图制作过程中相邻两景影像之间的镶嵌线具有重要意义。本文以国产卫星中分辨率最高、幅宽最小的GF-2影像为数据源,融合建筑物轮廓数据,研究了基于最短路径的A*搜索算法,实现了遥感影像地图制作的镶嵌线自动提取技术。结果表明,该方法能够自动生成避让建筑物的镶嵌线,速度快、镶嵌质量高,可广泛应用于城市地区高分辨率遥感影像地图制作。     

Multitemporal settlement and population mapping from Landsat using Google Earth Engine

As countries become increasingly urbanized, understanding how urban areas are changing within the landscape becomes increasingly important. Urbanized areas are often the strongest indicators of human interaction with the environment, and understanding how urban areas develop through remotely sensed data allows for more sustainable practices. The Google Earth Engine (GEE) leverages cloud computing services to provide analysis capabilities on over 40 years of Landsat data. As a remote sensing platform, its ability to analyze global data rapidly lends itself to being an invaluable tool for studying the growth of urban areas. Here we present (i) An approach for the automated extraction of urban areas from Landsat imagery using GEE, validated using higher resolution images, (ii) a novel method of validation of the extracted urban extents using changes in the statistical performance of a high resolution population mapping method. Temporally distinct urban extractions were classified from the GEE catalog of Landsat 5 and 7 data over the Indonesian island of Java by using a Normalized Difference Spectral Vector (NDSV) method. Statistical evaluation of all of the tests was performed, and the value of population mapping methods in validating these urban extents was also examined. Results showed that the automated classification from GEE produced accurate urban extent maps, and that the integration of GEE-derived urban extents also improved the quality of the population mapping outputs.     

Quantifying uncertainty in remote sensing-based urban land-use mapping

Land-use/land-cover information constitutes an important component in the calibration of many urban growth models. Typically, the model building involves a process of historic calibration based on time series of land-use maps. Medium-resolution satellite imagery is an interesting source for obtaining data on land-use change, yet inferring information on the use of urbanised spaces from these images is a challenging task that is subject to different types of uncertainty. Quantifying and reducing the uncertainties in land-use mapping and land-use change model parameter assessment are therefore crucial to improve the reliability of urban growth models relying on these data. In this paper, a remote sensing-based land-use mapping approach is adopted, consisting of two stages: (i) estimating impervious surface cover at sub-pixel level through linear regression unmixing and (ii) inferring urban land use from urban form using metrics describing the spatial structure of the built-up area, together with address data. The focus lies on quantifying the uncertainty involved in this approach. Both stages of the land-use mapping process are subjected to Monte Carlo simulation to assess their relative contribution to and their combined impact on the uncertainty in the derived land-use maps. The robustness to uncertainty of the land-use mapping strategy is addressed by comparing the most likely land-use maps obtained from the simulation with the original land-use map, obtained without taking uncertainty into account. The approach was applied on the Brussels-Capital Region and the central part of the Flanders region (Belgium), covering the city of Antwerp, using a time series of SPOT data for 1996, 2005 and 2012. Although the most likely land-use map obtained from the simulation is very similar to the original land-use map – indicating absence of bias in the mapping process – it is shown that the errors related to the impervious surface sub-pixel fraction estimation have a strong impact on the land-use map's uncertainty. Hence, uncertainties observed in the derived land-use maps should be taken into account when using these maps as an input for modelling of urban growth.     

Satellite remote sensing in urban sprawl mapping & monitoring a case study of Delhi

Visual interpretation of satellite data products coupled with field checking is a very useful technique of finding out the physical growth of urban centres. The expansion of urban centres is very fast and conventional ground methods are slow and in-accurate because by these methods, delineation of built-up area is difficult. Mapping and monitoring the urban sprawl, as a result of urban decay of city centre, at regular intervals is very essential for urban planners to understand the trend of development on the urban periphery and subsequently to regulate it. In this study, various data products like Landsat MSS, TM, Toposheets were used to find out the growth of Delhi urban area since 1975 to 1988. Thematic Mapper imagery was used to prepare a broad landuse/land cover map of Delhi and environs. This study was very useful in finding out the potential, as well as shortcomings of satellite data products in the study of various urban aspects.     

Urban land use mapping: A case study of ahmedabad city and its environs

Proper urban planning and effective implementation requires reliable urban land use statistics. In this context, satellite remote sensing data has been studied using both visual and digital techniques. A portable eight-band radiometer has been used to collect spectral signatures of surface features present in Ahmedabad city and its environs. Using these signatures a suitable approach employing visual and digital techniques has been developed for urban land use/sprawl mapping. Urban land-use maps of Ahmedabad city and its environs were prepared on 1:25,000 scale and for Ahmedabad Urban Development Authority Area on 1:50,000 scale using this methodology. It has been found that edge-enhancement techniques are useful to enhance the contrast among different urban land uses. Classification techniques such as MXL and Bayes classifiers are not successful in discriminating urban land uses. Tonal characteristics alongwith other elements of interpretation are required to classify urban land uses such as residential, industrial etc. Spatial distribution of various urban and uses and the space devoted to each urban land use has been brought out.     

车载移动测量系统在城市树木普查中的应用

针对城市树木普查,现有的采集和管理方法浪费大量的人力和物力,难以实现数据的快速更新和科学管理的问题,该文将车载移动测量系统应用于城市树木普查工作。介绍了该应用的工作流程,阐述了数据采集、处理的具体过程,实现了基于ArcGIS二次开发软件平台自动或半自动提取树木的平面位置和确定树木冠幅、胸径、树高和树种等属性的功能,并且集成城市树木数据库与街景系统,实现城市树木可视化监测,以及精细化、动态化、信息化的管理。     

面向上海城市数字化转型的新型测绘

城市数字化转型、“科学化、精细化、智能化”的城市治理、“新基建”的落地和数字经济的发展都迫切需要空间地理数据向“全域、全息、全空间、多维、高频”推进,实现物理空间的数字孪生。本文结合上海市城市数字化转型对地理信息的新需求,从空天地数据获取手段、全息空间数据内涵、二三维一体的成果形式、泛在测绘更新方法和按需组装服务方式等方面提出了构建以基于地理实体的智能化全息测绘为核心的新型测绘体系,形成了城市数字化转型地理信息新服务的解决方案。     

Integrating spectral and non-spectral data to improve urban settlement mapping in a large Latin-American city

ABSTRACT

Information on urban settlements is crucial for sustainability planning and management. While remote sensing has been used to derive such information, its applicability can be compromised due to the complexity in the urban environment. In this study, we developed a remote sensing method to map land cover types in a large Latin-American city, which is well known for its mushrooming unplanned and informal settlements. After carefully considering the landscape complexity there, we designed a data fusion method combining multispectral imagery and non-spectral data for urban and land mapping. Specifically, we acquired a cloud-free Landsat-8 image and two non-spectral datasets, i.e., digital elevation models and road networks. Then, we implemented a set of experiments with different inputs to evaluate their merits in thematic mapping through a supervised protocol. We found that the map generated with the multispectral data alone had an overall accuracy of 73.3% but combining multispectral imagery and non-spectral data yielded a land cover map with 90.7% overall accuracy. Interestingly, the thermal infrared information helped substantially improve both the overall and categorical accuracies, particularly for the two urban classes. The two types of non-spectral data were critical in resolving several spectrally confused categories, thus considerably increasing the mapping accuracy. However, the panchromatic band with higher spatial resolution and its derived textural measurement only generated a marginal accuracy improvement. The novelties of our work are with the successful separation between the two major types of urban settlements in a complex environment using a carefully designed data fusion approach and the insight into the relative merits of the thermal infrared information and non-spectral data in helping resolve the issue of class ambiguity. These findings should be valuable in deriving accurate urban settlement information which can further advance the research on socio-ecological dynamics and urban sustainability.     

Quantitative urban climate mapping based on a geographical database: A simulation approach using Hong Kong as a case study

The urban environment has been dramatically changed by artificial constructions. How the modified urban geometry affects the urban climate and therefore human thermal comfort has become a primary concern for urban planners. The present study takes a simulation approach to analyze the influence of urban geometry on the urban climate and maps this climatic understanding from a quantitative perspective. A geographical building database is used to characterize two widely discussed aspects: urban heat island effect (UHI) and wind dynamics. The parameters of the sky view factor (SVF) and the frontal area density (FAD) are simulated using ArcGIS-embedded computer programs to link urban geometry with the UHI and wind dynamic conditions. The simulated results are synergized and classified to evaluate different urban climatic conditions based on thermal comfort consideration. A climatic map is then generated implementing the classification. The climatic map shows reasonable agreement with thermal comfort understanding, as indicated by the biometeorological index of the physiological equivalent temperature (PET) obtained in an earlier study. The proposed climate mapping approach can provide both quantitative and visual evaluation of the urban environment for urban planners with climatic concerns. The map could be used as a decision support tool in planning and policy-making processes. An urban area in Hong Kong is used as a case study.     

Use of Landsat Thematic Mapper for urban land use/land cover mapping

Visual interpretation of Landsat Thematic Mapper data coupled with ground checking has been used to extract information for urban areas. The emphasis has been given on development of land use/land cover scheme and image interpretation keys for interpretation and delineation purposes using satellite remote sensing data. Lucknow city and its surroundings have been studied to evaluate the usefulness and potentiality of satellite data particularly Landsat Thematic Mapper for urban area studies. This study has demonstrated that remote sensing can provide a valuable tool for urban data acquisition.     

Built-up and vegetation extraction and density mapping using WorldView-II

This study demonstrates the use of high resolution WorldView-II satellite data in extraction of built-up land and vegetation using normalized index techniques. The PCA 1 and NIR 2 bands-based built-up index was proposed for extracting built-up land, which exhibit high accuracy. The normalized difference vegetation index based on Red Edge and NIR 2 bands of WorldView-II produced high accuracy inthe estimation of vegetation compared to the use of Red and NIR bands. The grid technique used in estimating built-up and vegetation density from precisely classified images provided better and accurate assessment of built-up and vegetation density in heterogeneous landscape of urban areas. This shows areas of very high to high built-up density are located in the central, western and southern parts, which are primarily devoid of vegetation. This study indicates possibilities of utilizing high resolution satellite data in urban landscape characterization using a grid-based technique.     

Urban land use mapping and zoning of Bombay Metropolitan Region using remote sensing data

Bombay Metropolitan Region covering an area of about 4,360 sq. km. was selected for urban land use studies and for urban land use zoning. Urban land use mapping was carried out using SPOT multispectral linear array imagery on 1∶25,000 scale employing visual analysis tehcniques. Fifteen maps were prepared depicting the spatial distribution of various urban classes in the Greater Bombay and New Bombay regions. Sixteen urban land use maps were also prepared using Landsat TM data showing the distribution of land use pattern on 1∶50,000 scale for the entire metropolitan region. Urban land use zoning was carried out based upon suitability index on 1∶250,000 scale. This map provides information on the areas to be used for construction and areas to be kept under green belt in the metropolitan region. This study is a joint venture of Space Applications Centre with Bombay Metropolitan Development authority.     

Global mapping of urban built-up areas of year 2014 by combining MODIS multispectral data with VIIRS nighttime light data

An improved methodology for the extraction and mapping of urban built-up areas at a global scale is presented in this study. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS)-based multispectral data were combined with the Visible Infrared Imager Radiometer Suite (VIIRS)-based nighttime light (NTL) data for robust extraction and mapping of urban built-up areas. The MODIS-based newly proposed Urban Built-up Index (UBI) was combined with NTL data, and the resulting Enhanced UBI (EUBI) was used as a single master image for global extraction of urban built-up areas. Due to higher variation of the EUBI with respect to geographical regions, a region-specific threshold approach was used to extract urban built-up areas. This research provided 500-m-resolution global urban built-up map of year 2014. The resulted map was compared with three existing moderate-resolution global maps and one high-resolution map in the United States. The comparative analysis demonstrated finer details of the urban built-up cover estimated by the resultant map.     

Automated mapping of impervious surfaces in urban and suburban areas: Linear spectral unmixing of high spatial resolution imagery

Quantifying impervious surfaces in urban and suburban areas is a key step toward a sustainable urban planning and management strategy. With the availability of fine-scale remote sensing imagery, automated mapping of impervious surfaces has attracted growing attention. However, the vast majority of existing studies have selected pixel-based and object-based methods for impervious surface mapping, with few adopting sub-pixel analysis of high spatial resolution imagery. This research makes use of a vegetation-bright impervious-dark impervious linear spectral mixture model to characterize urban and suburban surface components. A WorldView-3 image acquired on May 9th, 2015 is analyzed for its potential in automated unmixing of meaningful surface materials for two urban subsets and one suburban subset in Toronto, ON, Canada. Given the wide distribution of shadows in urban areas, the linear spectral unmixing is implemented in non-shadowed and shadowed areas separately for the two urban subsets. The results indicate that the accuracy of impervious surface mapping in suburban areas reaches up to 86.99%, much higher than the accuracies in urban areas (80.03% and 79.67%). Despite its merits in mapping accuracy and automation, the application of our proposed vegetation-bright impervious-dark impervious model to map impervious surfaces is limited due to the absence of soil component. To further extend the operational transferability of our proposed method, especially for the areas where plenty of bare soils exist during urbanization or reclamation, it is still of great necessity to mask out bare soils by automated classification prior to the implementation of linear spectral unmixing.     

Semi-automatic mapping of anthropogenic impervious surfaces in an urban/suburban area using Landsat 8 satellite data

Impervious surfaces have a significant impact on urban runoff, groundwater, base flow, water quality, and climate. Increase in Anthropogenic Impervious Surfaces (AIS) for a region is a true representation of urban expansion. Monitoring of AIS in an urban region is helpful for better urban planning and resource management. Cost effective and efficient maps of AIS can be obtained for larger areas using remote sensing techniques. In the present study, extraction of AIS has been carried out using Double window Flexible Pace Search (DFPS) from a new index named as Normalized Difference Impervious Surface Index (NDAISI). NDAISI is developed by enhancing Biophysical Composition Index (BCI) in two stages using a new Modified Normalized Difference Soil Index (MNDSI). MNDSI has been developed from Band 7 and Band 8 (PAN) of Landsat 8 data. In comparison to existing impervious surface extraction methods, the new NDAISI approach is able to improve Spectral Discrimination Index (SDI) for bare soil and AIS significantly. Overall accuracy of mapping of AIS, using NDAISI approach has been found to be increased by nearly 23% when compared with existing impervious surface extraction methods.     

Urban cadastral mapping using very high resolution remote sensing data

With growing urban expanses, one of the pre-requisites for effective governance is Urban Information Systems (UIS) with content down to individual properties (and individuals). The basic input i.e., a map, in UIS should show individual property boundaries showing the plan outline of all structures existing within, at a scale of 1:1000 and larger with sub-metre to centimeters planimetric and geometric accuracy. With very high resolution remote sensing data of the order of 1m available in hand, it is possible to prepare maps with high resolution spatial content. The present exercise demonstrates a method of preparing a geometrically and planimetrically accurate urban cadastral map on very large scale for a small area of about 5 sq km. IKONOS merged data with 1m resolution is used for the purpose. Mapping was done in conjunction with on-site measurements and sketches. Guides are used to maintain shape symmetry and accuracy of buildings and other features. Working out cost of mapping per unit area is another objective in the present exercise. For want of fully or semi-automatic methods of information extraction from very high resolution remote sensing data, it is imperative that mapping should be carried out in conjunction with some on-site measurements wherever necessary.     

Building population mapping with aerial imagery and GIS data

Geospatial distribution of population at a scale of individual buildings is needed for analysis of people's interaction with their local socio-economic and physical environments. High resolution aerial images are capable of capturing urban complexities and considered as a potential source for mapping urban features at this fine scale. This paper studies population mapping for individual buildings by using aerial imagery and other geographic data. Building footprints and heights are first determined from aerial images, digital terrain and surface models. City zoning maps allow the classification of the buildings as residential and non-residential. The use of additional ancillary geographic data further filters residential utility buildings out of the residential area and identifies houses and apartments. In the final step, census block population, which is publicly available from the U.S. Census, is disaggregated and mapped to individual residential buildings. This paper proposes a modified building population mapping model that takes into account the effects of different types of residential buildings. Detailed steps are described that lead to the identification of residential buildings from imagery and other GIS data layers. Estimated building populations are evaluated per census block with reference to the known census records. This paper presents and evaluates the results of building population mapping in areas of West Lafayette, Lafayette, and Wea Township, all in the state of Indiana, USA.     

Assessing the performance of two unsupervised dimensionality reduction techniques on hyperspectral APEX data for high resolution urban land-cover mapping

Despite the high richness of information content provided by airborne hyperspectral data, detailed urban land-cover mapping is still a challenging task. An important topic in hyperspectral remote sensing is the issue of high dimensionality, which is commonly addressed by dimensionality reduction techniques. While many studies focus on methodological developments in data reduction, less attention is paid to the assessment of the proposed methods in detailed urban hyperspectral land-cover mapping, using state-of-the-art image classification approaches. In this study we evaluate the potential of two unsupervised data reduction techniques, the Autoassociative Neural Network (AANN) and the BandClust method – the first a transformation based approach, the second a feature-selection based approach – for mapping of urban land cover at a high level of thematic detail, using an APEX 288-band hyperspectral dataset. Both methods were tested in combination with four state-of-the-art machine learning classifiers: Random Forest (RF), AdaBoost (ADB), the multiple layer perceptron (MLP), and support vector machines (SVM). When used in combination with a strong learner (MLP, SVM) BandClust produces classification accuracies similar to or higher than obtained with the full dataset, demonstrating the method’s capability of preserving critical spectral information, required for the classifier to successfully distinguish between the 22 urban land-cover classes defined in this study. In the AANN data reduction process, on the other hand, important spectral information seems to be compromised or lost, resulting in lower accuracies for three of the four classifiers tested. Detailed analysis of accuracies at class level confirms the superiority of the SVM/Bandclust combination for accurate urban land-cover mapping using a reduced hyperspectral dataset. This study also demonstrates the potential of the new APEX sensor data for detailed mapping of land cover in spatially and spectrally complex urban areas.     

Large-scale urban functional zone mapping by integrating remote sensing images and open social data

ABSTRACT

Urban functional zones (UFZs) are important for urban sustainability and urban planning and management, but UFZ maps are rarely available and up-to-date in developing countries due to frequent economic and human activities and rapid changes in UFZs. Current methods have focused on mapping UFZs in a small area with either remote sensing images or open social data, but large-scale UFZ mapping integrating these two types of data is still not be applied. In this study, a novel approach to mapping large-scale UFZs by integrating remote sensing images (RSIs) and open social data is proposed. First, a context-enabled image segmentation method is improved to generate UFZ units by incorporating road vectors. Second, the segmented UFZs are classified by coupling Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) and Support Vector Machine (SVM). In the classification framework, physical features from RSIs and social attributes from POI (Point of Interest) data are integrated. A case study of Beijing was performed to evaluate the proposed method, and an overall accuracy of 85.9% was achieved. The experimental results demonstrate that the presented method can provide fine-grained UFZs, and the fusion strategy of RSIs and POI data can distinguish urban functions accurately. The proposed method appears to be promising and practical for large-scale UFZ mapping.