Towards a free open source software tool for human settlement detection on VHR remote sensing images

This work presents the preliminary results of a joint enterprise aiming at the development of free open source software (FOSS) tools for very high resolution remote sensing (RS) image analysis (IA) at the global level. Specifically, the paper proposes a simple method for the detection of human settlements on RS images. The method relies on a model, which can be described in terms of few simple intuitive features related to the ontology of an urban area. In consequence, the method can be adjusted to different urban typologies by users with little background on RS and IA. Moreover, a FOSS implementation of the proposed method is described. The prototype integrates two free open source tools, namely Urban Focus and InterIMAGE. Both, method and prototype are tested experimentally on a CBERS dataset, whit encouraging results.