Remote sensing images for environmental applications

In this work we present two examples of how information extracted from images acquired by imaging radiometers (remote sensing), installed on board of satellites, is used in support of local territory management. In the first case, the remote sensing images used were acquired over the district of Modena (Italy) by the Thematic Mapper (TM) sensor, on board of Landsat5 satellite, and by the panchromatic sensor of the IRS-1C satellite. The images were used to build a georeferenced map showing urban details, validated to the 1:10000 scale that can be inserted in the cartographic data set used for regional planning to the 1:25000 scale. In the second example we describe an experiment, still under progress, concerning the employment of remote sensing images for forest inventory of the Modena territory. The images considered were acquired by the Enhanced Thematic Mapper (ETM+, Landsat7 satellite) sensor and by the Ikonos sensor (Ikonos satellite). In this case the images are used to produce thematic maps of vegetation (forests in particular). The objective of the experiment is to furnish indications regarding the capability of the two sensors in mapping vegetation in the specific area and the most appropriate methods of images elaboration for the evaluation of the thematic maps. At the moment, being the experiment under progress, the only consideration that we can furnish, taking into account the needs of the local users of the vegetation maps, is that the maps extracted from Ikonos images, have a spatial scale suitable for many applications, but it contains few vegetation classes. On the contrary, classifications obtained from ETM+ data contain various classes of vegetation, but it coarser spatial scale restricts their use. The final results and considerations of this work will be available, and then presented, during the meeting.