Detection of Recently Constructed Multi‐storey Buildings Using SPOT Panchromatic and Landsat TM/ETM+ Data

Abstract

In this paper, methods were developed to detect recently constructed buildings in the city of Beijing using remotely sensed data. The city of Beijing is going through a rapid developing period, both in the suburbs and inside the old city. To detect the building development in and around the city, Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) and Enhanced Thematic Mapper (ETM+) and SPOT High Resolution Visible (HRV) panchromatic (PAN) images were collected in 1994 and 2001. The two data sources were merged using a spectral‐preserving fusion method. An unsupervised classification was performed first on the merged dataset to separate urban built‐up areas with non built‐up areas. Buildings in the built‐up areas were then extracted using a classification method based on high‐pass filtered SPOT images. Our results show that over 83% of multi‐storey buildings can be detected using the merged dataset. The comparison of buildings extracted for the two years indicated the locations of building development between 1994 and 2001.