ABSTRACT
Describing human settlements by remote sensing data has always been a challenge since the field of Earth observation began more than 50 years ago. General disciplines dealing with human settlement description have often reported difficulties in using available satellite-derived information to describe these settlements. We refer here not only to such disciplines as urban and regional planning, and design and development, but also to sectorial activities related to risk assessment or damage and reconstruction assessment. During these years, the conventional explanation for this
difficulty was mainly attributed to a technological gap — in short, to a lack of spatial resolution in the available civilian satellite data. The fact that broad-scale planning activities (e.g., regional strategic spatial planning) also usually ignored traditional satellite value-added products was omitted in the cited explanation. When noted, this fact was commonly linked to a general lack of “communication,” with practitioners or urban planners being unaware of the potentialities of satellite-derived products.
