A Global Human Settlement Layer From Optical HR/VHR RS Data: Concept and First Results

A general framework for processing high and veryhigh resolution image data in support to a Global Human Settlement Layer (GHSL) is presented together with a discussion on the results of the first operational test of the production workflow. The test involved the mapping of 24.3 millions of square kilometres of the Earth surface spread in four continents, corresponding to an estimated population of 1.3 billions of people in 2010. The resolution of the input image data ranges from 0.5 to 10 meters, collected by a heterogeneous set of platforms including satellite SPOT (2 and 5), CBERS 2B, RapidEye (2 and 4), WorldView (1 and 2), GeoEye 1, QuickBird 2, Ikonos 2, and airborne sensors. Several imaging mode were tested including panchromatic, multispectral and pan-sharpened images. A new fully automatic image information extraction, generalization and mosaic workflow is presented that is based on multiscale textural and morphological image features extraction. New image feature compression and optimization are introduced, together with new earning and classification techniques allowing for the processing of HR/VHR image data using low-resolution thematic layers as reference. A new systematic approach for quality control and validation allowing global spatial and thematic consistency checking is proposed and applied. The quality of the results are discussed by sensor, by band, by resolution, and eco-regions. Critical points, lessons learned and next steps are highlighted.

PESARESI Martino;  GUO Huadong;  BLAES Xavier;  EHRLICH Daniele;  FERRI Stefano;  GUEGUEN Lionel;  HALKIA Stamatia;  KEMPER Thomas;  LU Linlin;  OUZOUNIS Georgios;  SCAVAZZON Marco;  SOILLE Pierre;  SYRRIS Vasileios;  ZANCHETTA Luigi; 

2013-11-19

IEEE-INST ELECTRICAL ELECTRONICS ENGINEERS INC

JRC74471

1939-1404,   

http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/articleDetails.jsp?arnumber=6578177,    https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC74471,   

10.1109/JSTARS.2013.2271445,