Global mapping of urban built-up areas of year 2014 by combining MODIS multispectral data with VIIRS nighttime light data |
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| Authors: | Ram C Sharma Ryutaro Tateishi Keitarou Hara Saeid Gharechelou Kotaro Iizuka |
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| Institution: | 1. Center for Environmental Remote Sensing (CEReS), Chiba University, Chiba, Japan;2. Department of Informatics, Tokyo University of Information Sciences, Chiba, Japan;3. Research Institute for Sustainable Humanosphere, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan |
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| Abstract: | An improved methodology for the extraction and mapping of urban built-up areas at a global scale is presented in this study. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS)-based multispectral data were combined with the Visible Infrared Imager Radiometer Suite (VIIRS)-based nighttime light (NTL) data for robust extraction and mapping of urban built-up areas. The MODIS-based newly proposed Urban Built-up Index (UBI) was combined with NTL data, and the resulting Enhanced UBI (EUBI) was used as a single master image for global extraction of urban built-up areas. Due to higher variation of the EUBI with respect to geographical regions, a region-specific threshold approach was used to extract urban built-up areas. This research provided 500-m-resolution global urban built-up map of year 2014. The resulted map was compared with three existing moderate-resolution global maps and one high-resolution map in the United States. The comparative analysis demonstrated finer details of the urban built-up cover estimated by the resultant map. |
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| Keywords: | Urban built-up areas VIIRS MODIS nighttime light Urban Built-up Index global mapping |
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