Information Extraction and Population Estimates of Settlements from Historic Corona Satellite Imagery in the 1960s

The Corona satellite program was a historic reconnaissance mission which provided high spatial resolution panchromatic images during the Cold War era. Nevertheless, and despite the historic uniqueness and importance of the dataset, efforts to extract tangible information from this dataset have prima...

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Main Authors: Dimitris Stratoulias, George Grekousis
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2021-04-01
Series:Sensors
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/21/7/2423
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spelling doaj-328c27856d344f0a84b12c17bdd4b54e2021-04-01T23:04:06ZengMDPI AGSensors1424-82202021-04-01212423242310.3390/s21072423Information Extraction and Population Estimates of Settlements from Historic Corona Satellite Imagery in the 1960sDimitris Stratoulias0George Grekousis1Informetrics Research Group, Ton Duc Thang University, Ho Chi Minh City, VietnamDepartment of Urban and Regional Planning, School of Geography and Planning, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, ChinaThe Corona satellite program was a historic reconnaissance mission which provided high spatial resolution panchromatic images during the Cold War era. Nevertheless, and despite the historic uniqueness and importance of the dataset, efforts to extract tangible information from this dataset have primarily focused on visual interpretation. More sophisticated approaches have been either hampered or unrealized, often justified by the primitive quality of this early satellite product. In the current study we attempt to showcase the usability of Corona imagery outside the context of visual interpretation. Using a 1968 Corona image acquired over the city municipality of Plovdiv, Bulgaria, we reconstruct a panchromatic 1.8 m spatial resolution georegistered image with a relative displacement Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) of 6.616 (for x dimension) and 1.886 (for y dimension) and employ segmentation and texture analysis to discern agricultural parcels and settlements’ footprints. Population statistics of this past era are retrieved from national census and related to settlements’ footprints. An exponential relationship between the two variables was identified by applying a semi-log regression. The high adjusted R<sup>2</sup> value found (76.54%) indicates that Corona images offer a unique opportunity for population data analysis of the past. Overall, we showcase that the Corona images’ usability extends beyond the visual interpretation, and features of interest extracted through image analysis can be subsequently used for further geographical and historical research.https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/21/7/2423Corona missionremote sensinghistorical GISfeature extractionsegmentationtexture
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Dimitris Stratoulias
George Grekousis
spellingShingle Dimitris Stratoulias
George Grekousis
Information Extraction and Population Estimates of Settlements from Historic Corona Satellite Imagery in the 1960s
Sensors
Corona mission
remote sensing
historical GIS
feature extraction
segmentation
texture
author_facet Dimitris Stratoulias
George Grekousis
author_sort Dimitris Stratoulias
title Information Extraction and Population Estimates of Settlements from Historic Corona Satellite Imagery in the 1960s
title_short Information Extraction and Population Estimates of Settlements from Historic Corona Satellite Imagery in the 1960s
title_full Information Extraction and Population Estimates of Settlements from Historic Corona Satellite Imagery in the 1960s
title_fullStr Information Extraction and Population Estimates of Settlements from Historic Corona Satellite Imagery in the 1960s
title_full_unstemmed Information Extraction and Population Estimates of Settlements from Historic Corona Satellite Imagery in the 1960s
title_sort information extraction and population estimates of settlements from historic corona satellite imagery in the 1960s
publisher MDPI AG
series Sensors
issn 1424-8220
publishDate 2021-04-01
description The Corona satellite program was a historic reconnaissance mission which provided high spatial resolution panchromatic images during the Cold War era. Nevertheless, and despite the historic uniqueness and importance of the dataset, efforts to extract tangible information from this dataset have primarily focused on visual interpretation. More sophisticated approaches have been either hampered or unrealized, often justified by the primitive quality of this early satellite product. In the current study we attempt to showcase the usability of Corona imagery outside the context of visual interpretation. Using a 1968 Corona image acquired over the city municipality of Plovdiv, Bulgaria, we reconstruct a panchromatic 1.8 m spatial resolution georegistered image with a relative displacement Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) of 6.616 (for x dimension) and 1.886 (for y dimension) and employ segmentation and texture analysis to discern agricultural parcels and settlements’ footprints. Population statistics of this past era are retrieved from national census and related to settlements’ footprints. An exponential relationship between the two variables was identified by applying a semi-log regression. The high adjusted R<sup>2</sup> value found (76.54%) indicates that Corona images offer a unique opportunity for population data analysis of the past. Overall, we showcase that the Corona images’ usability extends beyond the visual interpretation, and features of interest extracted through image analysis can be subsequently used for further geographical and historical research.
topic Corona mission
remote sensing
historical GIS
feature extraction
segmentation
texture
url https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/21/7/2423
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