High Resolution Satellite Images for Instantaneous Shoreline Extraction Using New Enhancement Algorithms

Knowledge of a territory is an essential element in any future planning action and in appropriate territorial and environmental requalification action planning. The current large-scale availability of satellite data, thanks to very high resolution images, provides professional users in the environmental, urban planning, engineering, and territorial government sectors, in general, with large amounts of useful data with which to monitor the territory and cultural heritage. Italy is experiencing environmental emergencies, and coastal erosion is one of the greatest threats, not only to the Italian heritage and economy, but also to human life. The aim of this paper is to find a rapid way of identifying the instantaneous shoreline. This possibility could help government institutions such as regions, civil protection, etc., to analyze large areas of land quickly. The focus is on instantaneous shoreline extraction in Ortona (CH, Italy), without considering tides, using WorldView-2 satellite images (50-cm resolution in panchromatic and 2 m in multispectral). In particular, the main purpose of this paper is to compare commercial software and ACM filters to test their effectiveness.