692
September 2015
PHOTOGRAMMETRIC ENGINEERING & REMOTE SENSING
BOOK
REVIEW
Global Urban Monitoring and
Assessment through Earth Observation
Edited by: Qihao Weng
CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL, USA. May 23, 2014. 440p.
Hardcover: $ 125.96. ISBN 9781466564497.
Reviewed by:
Mingshu Wang, Center for Geospatial
Research, Department of Geography, University of
Georgia, Athens, GA, USA
Edited by Qihao Weng, the Taylor & Francis Series in Remote
Sensing Applications welcomed a new member “Global Urban
Monitoring and Assessment through Earth Observation”
in mid-2014, which introduces global urban observation
in terms of needs and requirements, data and products,
monitoring, forecasting and assessment, and innovative
concepts and methods. The book also reflects prioritized tasks
of Global Urban Observation and Information Task (GEO SB-
04) between 2012 and 2015 and beyond, where GEO is the
Group on Earth Observations — an initiative collaborated
by 150 governments and international organizations to
integrate earth monitoring systems in order to provide a
better understanding of the dynamics of the Earth systems.
This book is a valuable reference book for both academics
and researchers in academia, and can also be used as a major
textbook for urban remote sensing studies at university level.
Composed of four sections with 18 chapters (386 pp), there
are 45 color and 179 black and white figures, which are all
well-designed and appropriate. Section I, first presents the
origin, rationale, objectives and key accomplishments of GEO’s
Global Urban Observation and Information Task (Chapter 1)
and selects eight cities across Asia, Europe, North and South
America as test sites to illustrate methodologies (Chapter
2). And then it demonstrates a framework to extract Earth
observation information to facilitate urban studies (Chapter
3). Lastly, it compiles the most updated information about the
satellite sensors for urban remote sensing (Chapter 4). Section
II shows different global urban mapping initiatives directed by
GEO SB-04, including the Global Urban Footprint project by
the German Aerospace Center (Chapter 5), trends in nightlight
remote sensing from 1992 to 2012 at a national level (Chapter
6), global built-up area map at a 15m resolution by integrating
ASTER and GIS (Chapter 7), opportunities and challenges of
fine-scale global mapping using VHR imagery (Chapter 8).
Section III consists several case studies on observing,monitoring
and assessing human settlements, including evaluating the
spatiotemporal dynamics of China’s megacities using Landsat,
TerraSAR-X and TerraDEM-X (Chapter 9), monitoring
internally displaced persons and refugees that live in camps
(Chapter 10), mapping built-up areas in China with CBERS-
2B data with a resolution of 2.36 m (Chapter 11), assessing
climatological and geographical factors for the global pandemic
of H1N1 (Chapter 12), modeling urban thermal environments
(Chapter 13). Section IV contains recent development of
innovative concepts and methods in urban remote sensing,
incorporating machine-generated and user-generated big
geo-data to improve urban monitoring studies (Chapter 14),
demonstrating Object Based Image Analysis (OBIA) for
urban contexts (Chapter 15 and Chapter 16), developing a
new algorithm for change detection in catastrophes or crisis
(Chapter 17), and focusing on fusing SAR and optical remote
sensing data for urban land cover mapping (Chapter 18).
One highlight is Chapter 4, which presents a comprehensive
inventory of urban observing sensors. Earth Observation
systems advance with the rapid development of information
and communications technologies; therefore, it is necessary to
revisit the list of contemporary sensors timely. This chapter
may provide the most up-to-date information of this list.
Moreover, despite reviews of optical sensors and thermal
infrared (TIR) sensors, which have been widely used in urban
remote sensing, this chapter composes an inventory of synthetic
aperture radar (SAR) sensors, which may usher a new era in
future urban observation studies. Traditionally, values of SAR
were underused due to the barriers in interpretation. However,
with the unique characteristics of wide coverage, all-weather
condition, SAR offers irreplaceable advantages in global
urban studies (e.g. Chapter 5 and Chapter 18). The chapter is
continued on page
Photogrammetric Engineering & Remote Sensing
Vol. 81, No. 9, September 2015, pp. 692–694.
0099-1112/15/692–694
© 2015 American Society for Photogrammetry
and Remote Sensing
doi: 10.14358/PERS.81.9.692
