Urban land cover classification: potential of high and very-high resolution SAR imagery

A comparative study on the complexity of the urban environments in SAR imagery at different spatial resolutions is presented. Two datasets have been considered, including the city of Rome, Italy imaged in decametric resolution and the Frascati area (Rome, Italy) acquired in very high spatial resolution (~2 m) at L-band in a fully polarimetric mode. The different characteristics of the radar sensors require careful managing of the corresponding product capabilities to maximize the various pieces of information contained in the variety of scattering mechanisms.