Automatic detection of archaeological sites using a hybrid process of Remote Sensing, Gis techniques and a shape detection algorithm

A method is presented for the automatic identification of lost or undiscovered archaeological sites in Egypt by using shape detection techniques on satellite imagery superposed in a GIS environment. For an area of interest, the EO data available from various satellites is pre-processed and from historical plans a shape file of the archaeological structure of interest is produced. A shape detection algorithm employing a shape matched operator is applied to the EO image to produce a detection image identifying the most probable location of the archaeological structure of interest. The shape-matched operator employed is the derivative of double exponential (DODE) operator. The final product is a GIS data set assembled as a list of required features and layers, all converted and processed in the same Geographical Reference System.