Publications

Sharma, RC; Tateishi, R; Hara, K; Gharechelou, S; Iizuka, K (2016). Global mapping of urban built-up areas of year 2014 by combining MODIS multispectral data with VIIRS nighttime light data. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF DIGITAL EARTH, 9(10), 1004-1020.

Abstract
An improved methodology for the extraction and mapping of urban built-up areas at a global scale is presented in this study. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer ( MODIS)-based multispectral data were combined with the Visible Infrared Imager Radiometer Suite ( VIIRS)-based nighttime light ( NTL) data for robust extraction and mapping of urban built-up areas. The MODIS-based newly proposed Urban Built-up Index ( UBI) was combined with NTL data, and the resulting Enhanced UBI ( EUBI) was used as a single master image for global extraction of urban built-up areas. Due to higher variation of the EUBI with respect to geographical regions, a region-specific threshold approach was used to extract urban built-up areas. This research provided 500-m-resolution global urban built-up map of year 2014. The resulted map was compared with three existing moderate-resolution global maps and one high-resolution map in the United States. The comparative analysis demonstrated finer details of the urban built-up cover estimated by the resultant map.

DOI:
10.1080/17538947.2016.1168879

ISSN:
1753-8947