Sentinel-1A SAR data for global urban mapping: Preliminary results

In this paper, Sentinel-1A SAR data were evaluated for urban extent extraction using the KTH-Pavia Urban Extractor. The methodology is based on texture measures and spatial statistics as well as decision level fusion. Sentinel-1A data in Stripmap mode (SM) or Interferometric Wide Swath mode (IW) were acquired in five cities around the world. For two European cities Milan, Italy and Stockholm, Sweden, accuracy assessments were performed by comparing the extracted urban areas with the Urban Atlas in 2010. The preliminary results show that the Sentinel-1A Stripmap mode is very suitable for urban extraction, reaching an agreement of more than 83%. The Interferometric Wideswath mode shows potential as well reaching an agreement of 77%, but urban extraction over Stockholm had high omission errors in low density built up areas.