Impervious Surface Mapping

About the Customer

The client is a leading global consulting group based in the UK that provides services in economics, planning, environment, geographical information systems, transportation, and infrastructure.

Business Challenge

By providing immediate estimates and updated maps for an emergency response to extreme events such as flooding, earthquakes, and hurricanes, information about impervious surfaces plays an important role in disaster management. The customer sought AABSyS to build an accurate dataset of impervious surfaces inside Ramsey, Minnesota, to assess the city’s disaster preparation. The main goal of this project is to update current impermeable surfaces while also capturing those that are missing. The customer provided a 15 cm high-resolution image as input for feature extraction and updating.

Solution

To optimize impervious surface layout, a 15 cm high-resolution image was used by AABSyS to create a proper classification of each feature (building, water bodies, recreation, transportation, railroad, etc.). The remote sensing process produces an impervious layer for the client’s GIS data model which quantified the impervious surfaces for the entire area of interest. The end use of this layer was for inputs for the assessment of disaster preparedness in the Ramsey, Minnesota city.

Benefits

• Remote sensing-based estimates of the impervious surface area highlight a correlation between land-use change and their potential impact on urban structure.
• This correlation between land-use change and its potential impact on urban structure enables companies and government bodies to analyze and make a prior informed decision.