Automatic hybrid-based built-up area extraction from Landsat 5, 7, and 8 data sets

The rapid expansion of human activities in time and space is tangible in different parts of the world. Urban sprawl is one of the phenomena that need to be controlled in order to ensure a sustainable development of communities. Satellite remote sensing provides a repository of Earth observations - and thus information on surface changes - since the early seventies. This research proposes a hybrid method applied to Landsat acquisitions for highlighting built-up areas and thus their changes, to estimate their age. The results as are also useful products in risk assessment and urban planning.