ation 
high- 
eight 
10. 9, 
on in 
reas. 
1.48, 
hicle 
ellite 
and 
level 
etics, 
y on 
id Its 
6d17 
view, 
hicle 
«Bird 
y. 11, 
h for 
gery. 
ol. 7, 
eural 
ution 
ation 
ce T. 
(ork: 
hairs 
)be& 
  
International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences, Volume XXXIX-B7, 2012 
XXII ISPRS Congress, 25 August — 01 September 2012, Melbourne, Australia 
ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGES ANALYSIS IN BUCHAREST CITY 
USING CORONA, SPOT HRV AND IKONOS IMAGES 
Ioan Noaje *, Ion Gr. Sion * 
* Geodetic and Photogrammetric Department, Technical University of Civil Engineering Bucharest, 
Bd. Lacul Tei 124, Sect 2, Bucharest, Cod 020396, O.P. 38, ROMANIA, 
E-mail: noaje@rdslink.ro; srft@rdslink.ro 
Commission VII, Working Group VII/5 
KEY WORDS: Urban, Change Detection, IKONOS, Multitemporal, Interpretation, Multiresolution 
ABSTRACT: 
Bucharest, capital of Romania, deals with serious difficulties as a result of urban politics: influx of people due to industrialization 
and development of dormitory areas, lack of a modern infrastructure, absence of coherent and long term urban development politics, 
continuous depletion of environment. This paper presents a multisensor study relying on multiple data sets, both analogical and 
digital: satellite images (Corona — 1964 panchromatic, SPOT HRV - 1994 multispectral and panchromatic, IKONOS — 2007 
multispectral), aerial photographs - 1994, complementary products (topographic and thematic maps). Georeferenced basis needs to 
be generated to highlight changes detection. The digital elevation model is generated from aerial photography 1:5,000 scaled, 
acquired in 1994. First a height correction is required followed by an affine transformation to the ground control points identified 
both in aerial photographs and IKONOS image. SPOT-HRV pansharpened satellite image has been rectified on georeferenced 
IKONOS image, by an affine transformation method. The Corona panoramic negative film was scanned and rubber sheeting method 
is used for rectification. The first 25 years of the study period (1964-1989) are characterized by growth of industrial areas, high 
density apartment buildings residential areas and leisure green areas by demolition of cultural heritage areas (hundred years old 
churches and architectural monuments). Changes between the imagery were determined partially through visual interpretation, using 
elements such as location, size, shape, shadow, tone, texture, and pattern (Corona image), partially using unsupervised classification 
(SPOT HRV and IKONOS). The second period of 18 years (1989-2007) highlighted considerable growth of residential areas in the 
city neighborhood, simultaneously with the diminish of green areas and massive deforestation in confiscated areas before and 
returned to the original owners. 
1. INTRODUCTION 
A new-comer in the European Union, Bucharest, capital of 
Romania, deals with serious difficulties as a result of urban 
politics prior and after 1989: influx of people due to 
industrialization and development of  dormitory areas 
(approximately 8096 of the inhabitants live in apartment 
buildings), lack of a modern infrastructure, absence of coherent 
and long term urban development politics, continuous depletion 
of environment. Future accomplishment of metropolitan area of 
Bucharest, following west European model involves advanced 
solutions for rehabilitations and spatial planning of area, at 
urban, rural and regional level, in accordance with requirements 
of sustainable development. 
Certain parameters which describe urban area particularities, 
but also quantify its development degree must be monitored. 
This range of parameters include a large variety of domains: 
social and economic development, supply/demand ratio on the 
real estate market, infrastructure, public transportation, 
environment. 
This research monitored the following urban development and 
ecological comfort parameters: dynamics of high density 
residential areas, in close connection with conversion of arable 
land outside city to inner urban perimeter, road infrastructure 
evolution, industrial areas evolution, leisure green areas 
evolution, water areas evolution (Blakely et al, 2002). 
Due to their specific techniques for data recording and analysis, 
photogrammetry and especially remote sensing are exquisite 
means in change detection in urban and peri-urban areas. 
2. STUDY ZONE AND DATA SOURCE 
2.1 Urban remote sensing monitoring 
Nowadays more than half of the global population is living in 
cities. Thus, human settlements represent the most dynamic 
regions on earth. In order to cope with this development, urban 
planning and management requires up-to-date information 
about the various processes taking place within the urban zones. 
With recent innovations in data acquisition technologies and 
theories in the wider arena of Earth Observation, urban remote 
sensing, or urban applications of remote sensing, have rapidly 
gained popularity among a wide variety of communities. Urban 
and regional planners are increasingly using remote sensing to 
derive information on the urban environment in a timely, 
detailed and cost-effective way to accommodate various 
planning and management activities. More and more urban 
researchers are using remote sensing to extract urban structure 
information for studying urban geometry, which can help 
develop theories and models of urban morphology. 
Environmental scientist are increasingly relying upon remote 
sensing to derive urban land cover information as a primary 
boundary condition used in many spatially distributed models. 
The benefit of remote sensing is its capability of acquiring 
images that cover a large area, providing a synoptic view that 
allows identifying objects, patterns and human-land interaction. 
Remote sensing provides additional measures for urban studies.