Information extraction from very high resolution satellite imagery over Lukole refugee camp, Tanzania
Giada,S.|De Groeve,T.|Ehrlich,D.|Soille,P. / 2003

This paper addresses information extraction from IKONOS imagery over the Lukole refugee camp in Tanzania. More specific, it describes automatic image analysis procedures for a rapid and reliable identification of refugee tents as well as their spatial extent. From the identified tents, the number of refugees can be derived and a map of the camp can be generated, which can be used for improving refugee camp management. Four information extraction methods have been tested and compared: supervised classification, unsupervised classification, multi-resolution segmentation and mathematical morphology analysis. The latter two procedures based on object-oriented classifiers perform best with a spatial accuracy above 85% and a statistical accuracy above 97%. These methods could be used for refugee camp information extraction in other geographical settings and on imagery with different spatial and spectral resolutions.