Semi-automatic road extraction from high-resolution satellite image

In this research, a method is proposed to create and/or update road maps in urban/suburban area using high-resolution satellite images. “Road mask” is defined in this research as a mask of road pixels, which are discriminated from others using a commercial remote sensing software. “Road seed” is defined in this research as a directional point, indicating that a road is passing through the point along the direction. Road seeds are extracted from edge pixels. Road line extraction is conducted in a semi-automatic way by fusing both road mask and road seeds. Experiments are conducted using an IKONOS image of nearby KAWAGOE city, Japan, with a ground resolution of 1 meter, and four bands, i.e. red, green, blue, and near infrared. Experimental results show that the method is valid in extracting main roads in high dense building area and all roads in countryside efficiently.