Detection

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Ship detection

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Using synthetic aperture radar data (which is available wet or fine, day or night), ship presence, ship size, direction of travel, and an estimate of speed can be made.
These data are useful for search and rescue, surveillance, and monitoring round-the-world races.

Edge detection

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Automated detection and extraction of edges, or boundaries, in an image can make map-updating faster and more cost effective. Here, clearfell areas are mapped for exotic forest inventory.
Image is 2 x 2 km.
Aerial photography by Air Logistics. Sample of edge detection work courtesy of Fletcher Challenge Forests.

Change detection

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With time-sequential digital imagery, changes in land cover and some land uses are easily detected and quantified. In these two images, construction of the northern extension of the Auckland Motorway is a major feature in the 1999 imagery. So too is urban sprawl. Each image is 20 x 20 km.
©CNES 1988 ©CNES 1999

Remote sensing