Distributed and hierarchical object-based image analysis for damage assessment: a case study of 2008 Wenchuan earthquake, China

Object-based image analysis (OBIA) is an emerging technique for analyzing remote sensing image based on object properties including spectral, geometry, contextual and texture information. To reduce the computational cost of this comprehensive OBIA and make it more feasible in disaster responses, we developed a unique approach - distributed and hierarchical OBIA approach for damage assessment. This study demonstrated a completed classification of YingXiu town, heavily devastated by the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake using Quickbrid imagery. Two distinctive areas, mountainous areas and urban, were analyzed separately. This approach does not require substantial processing power and large amounts of available memory because image of a large disaster-affected area was split in smaller pieces. Two or more computers could be used in parallel to process and analyze these sub-images based on different requirements. The approach can be applicable in other cases whereas the established set of rules can be adopted in similar study areas. More experiments will be carried out in future studies to prove its feasibility.