A Preliminary Study and Analysis on Extraction of Urban Area Density using PolSAR Images

The rapid increase in the urban population leads to the expansion of urban land cover. The consequence in an attempt to provide the new shelters ultimately ended up with the depletion of vegetation areas. This change somehow disturbs the ecological conditions, which might lead to several new problems. So, it is necessary to monitor the urban density with some specific mapping technique. Presented work thoroughly investigate urban density detection through PolSAR images. The accuracy of estimation highly depends on how well the urban areas are segregated. Hence, the main contribution of the paper is concentrated on the extraction of urban settlements. For that, an improved model-based decomposition algorithm is being used. To make the detection more efficient, an appropriate edge detector is then incorporated to group the pixels falling under the homogeneous region. Once the back-scattered signal becomes a function of building height and building separation, proper segregation of building blocks can be accomplished. Scattering powers and edge features can then be considered to develop an algorithm for urban density mapping. Upon amendment with the Geographic Information System (GIS) data, detection can be used as an alternative index to understand the issues related to human settlement.