Detection and extraction of road networks from high resolution satellite images

This article addresses the problem of road extraction from new high resolution satellite images. The proposed algorithm is divided in two sequential modules: a topologically correct graph of the road network is first extracted, and roads are then extracted as surface elements. The graph of the network is extracted by a following algorithm which minimizes a cost function. The extraction algorithm makes use of specific active contours (snakes) combined with a multiresolution analysis (MRA) for minimizing the problem of geometric noise. This reconstruction phase is composed of two steps: the extraction of road segments and the extraction of road intersections. Results of the road network extraction are presented in order to illustrate the different steps of the method and future prospects are exposed.