Traffic Monitoring using Very High Resolution Satellite Imagery

Abstract

Very high resolution satellite images allow automated monitoring of road traffic conditions. Satellite surveillance has several obvious advantages over current methods, which consist of expensive single-point measurements made from pressure sensors, video surveillance, etc., in/or close to the road. The main limitation of using satellite surveillance is the time resolution; the continuously changing traffic situation must be deduced from a snapshot image. In cooperation with the Norwegian Road Authorities, we have developed an approach for detection of vehicles in Quick-Bird images. The algorithm consists of a segmentation step followed by object-based maximum likelihood classification. Additionally, we propose a new approach for prediction of vehicle shadows. The shadow information is used as a contextual feature in order to improve classification. The correct classification rate was 89 percent, excluding noise samples. The proposed method tends to underestimate the number of vehicles when compared to manual counts and in-road equipment counts.

Motion Component Supported Boosted Classifier for Car Detection in Aerial Imagery

“…An approach which uses simple features based on shape and intensity presents (Eikvil et al, 2009). Using segmented images and applying a maximum likelihood classification can be observed in (Larsen et al, 2009). Promising results have also been achieved by .…”

A System of Satellites Observing High Resolution Images Support in Road Traffic Environment

“…As so far, we can't get the overall environmental information still by traditional traffic information capturing approach based on road side sensors, like induction loops, overhead sensors, video system and other timely detection equipment [4] which are difficult to conduct road traffic environment monitoring, including the timely traffic congestion, roads surrounding environment, spatial-temporal distribution of road status and so on. On the other hand, images from satellite observations, especially for the high resolution remote sensing images have been effectively applied in traffic status monitoring [5]. And more remote sensing satellite images with high space-time resolution are going to be available for traffic incidents monitoring, such as Gaofen-2 (GF-2) and Gaofen-4 (GF-4).…”

Extraction of road congestion information by change detection of multi-temporal satellite observing images

“…Images from airborne sensors or satellite observations have been used in vehicle detection and traffic status monitoring [3][4]. Although, some approaches based on aerial imagery are sophisticated and deliver good results, its high cost for multi-temporal and high spatial coverage limit its timely monitoring.…”

“…In addition, images with resolution better than 1 m have been widely used in road or vehicle detection [5][6]. And results show that using high resolution satellite images for road status detection is an efficient way for urban transportation planning [4]. And they can give users instantaneous traffic status for their imaging time.…”