EVALUATION OF INFORMATION CONTENT AND FEATURE EXTRACTION CAPABILITY FROM EGYPT SAT 1 IMAGE

Abstract

Maps are fast and accurate information sources when it is required, tostudy and to develop projects in any region. In Egypt, many of theavailable maps are in an unsatisfactory scale and not updated. Theavailability of Egypt Sat1 satellite images, opened new possibilities formapping and map updating. Egypt Sat1 is the first Egyptian earthobservation satellite which was successfully put in orbit in 2007. Itcaptures both multi-spectral and panchromatic images with resolution of7.8 meters. The main objective of this study is to evaluate the potentialsof information content in Egypt Sat1 images for extracting features inthe context of updating of 1:25,000 topographic maps and to ascertainwhat features could be identified and mapped using visual interpretationtechniques supported by supplementary data.Data used in this study are an image from Egypt Sat1satellite capturedin 2009 and a topographic map, dated 1991, at scale 1:25,000 of theregion of Assiut city and the surrounding. The investigation in EgyptSat1 data focused on identification of urban features such as roads,railways, watercourses, bridges and boundaries of urban areas. ERDASimagine 9.2 software was utilized, where qualitative and quantitativeevaluations were performed for the informative content. The researchresults point to the potential of Egypt Sat1 images as a low costalternative data source with field verification for the updating oftopographic maps at scale 1:25,000.