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The landscape changes continually as a result of human activity and natural forces. These changes have great impact on ecosystem management, community planning / development, and property revenue assessments. Visually locating these areas of change in vast geographic datasets can be much like looking for a needle in a haystack.

Click for Change Detection Process FlowTo eliminate the time and expense of visually searching data for changed features, Sanborn’s advanced imagery analysis and processing techniques can be applied to orthoimagery sets acquired on different dates to “highlight” areas where change has occurred, enabling users to locate areas of change quickly and efficiently. In the sample image above, “highlighted” areas showing new construction are clearly identified, making the location and analysis of change significantly more efficient.

CHANGE DETECTION SPECIFICATIONS

Change Observed Detail
Road Surface Area Road widening or new road
Road Surface Type Paving / road resurfacing
Forest Change in vegetation
Shrub Cover Change in low-growth vegetation
Vegetation Type Forested area, change of tree types
Buildings (no capture of features < 2,000 sq.ft.) New structures vs no structures
Water Features Large change in rivers, lakes, ponds, pools
Agriculture Change in areas planted / crops planted
Land Use Undeveloped land to developed land
Change in number of objects Addition or removal of manmade objects

Please note: The change detection process is designed to flag any change in the specified imagery. In some cases acquisition variables such as leaf-on vs leaf-off, alternate sun angle / shadows, and differences in flight direction, may cause false positive detection. However, the product is designed on the premise that over classifying change—even if false positives exist—is preferable to missing change altogether.

Conditions and Requirements

  • Price catalog is subject to change
  • Order acceptance subject to Sanborn approval
  • Source imagery must be at minimum one meter (or better) resolution
  • Three-band (for best results, four-band imagery preferred) from multiple years in the same projection and covering the same geographic area
  • Minimum geography of 50 square miles

Deliverables

  • Heat map (raster)
  • Categories tagged in vector format (available at additional cost)
  • All products provided as a single file (mosaic) unless file size exceeds limitations

Sanborn LogoFor more information or to order Sanborn Change Detection Analysis products or services, call Sanborn customer service at 1.866.SANBORN (1.866.726.2676), or contact us by e-mail at information@sanborn.com.