Road extraction through satellite imagery processing and visual interpretation

Abstract

Road extraction plays an important role in urban planning and city extension issues, as well as in road monitoring, traffic management and map updating. Technological advances may offer a wealth of data and techniques that could be implemented in road delineation and extraction projects. Among the various methods that have been developed for this purpose, remote sensing techniques and especially digital processing of satellite data could contribute significantly in this direction. This paper presents the study of a road network which concerns the city of Kastoria and its surroundings located in northwestern Greece. The study is of particular interest due to the city’s physiognomy depicted in its structure and the special character of the road network in the city center. Landsat 8 imagery was used in order to detect and delineate the linear features through spatial enhancement, while semi-automatic techniques were applied to SPOTmaps products to extract the road network. The resulted data present the efficiency of using satellite imagery for road network delineation and combined with other data could be used in further studies concerning road maintenance and extension, change detection issues, as well as for cultural and touristic purposes.