Coastal Services Center

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Updating Road Data for Evacuation Planning

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Accurate road data are essential to the management of evacuation and emergency response routing. The U.S. Department of Transportation is exploring the use of high-resolution IKONOS imagery for this task.

The Project

The U.S. Department of Transportation's (USDOT) National Consortium on Remote Sensing in Transportation (NCRST) is exploring new methods for updating existing road data. Accurate, updated information is needed to better manage evacuation routing and emergency response.

NCRST developed a prototype method for updating road data using high-resolution IKONOS imagery. The intended goals for the improved data are as follows:

• Assess road networks for emergency transportation and evacuation planning
• Create accurate maps of new and existing roads for routing emergency-911 response services

Automated road extraction from IKONOS panchromatic 1-m imagery. The yellow lines are identified as roads. Image provided by U.S. DOT NCRST.

Deriving Road Data from IKONOS Imagery

NCRST determined that using IKONOS imagery is more cost-effective and faster than GPS ground surveying. A black-and-white (panchromatic) IKONOS image covers an area 11 by 11 kilometers, and can detect features greater than 1 meter in size. Image processors can identify all the roads in a given area faster than GPS surveying.

Image processors use two methods, automated and semi-automated, to derive road data. These techniques use image texture, shape, patterns, and spectral and statistical information to isolate (segment) and extract road features into vector line data.

The Result

These data can be integrated into an Intelligent Transportation GIS to manage evacuation and emergency response. Emergency management personnel can use this information to respond to emergency situations quickly and confidently.

This method is still a prototype and the USDOT will determine if it will be implemented nationwide.

For More Information

• USDOT NCRST

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