Remote Sensing Role in Emergency Mapping for Disaster Response

In recent years, due to an increasing number of extreme meteorological events potentially related to climate change, a growing attention has been paid to the operational use of satellite remote sensing applied to emergency management applications. This is mainly due to the large and timely availability of different types of remotely sensed data—as well as geospatial information acquired in the field—which may be potentially exploited in the different phases of the disaster management cycle. This paper is mainly focused on the use of remotely sensed data in emergency mapping applications supporting the crisis response phase, including natural disasters as well as humanitarian crisis. The main relevant initiatives related to emergency mapping operational services will be briefly described. For the main disaster types the suitable imagery, their relevant technical features and the main processing techniques generally adopted in an operational framework will be described. Known limitations of a satellite-based approach will be described and potential complementary geomatics techniques (including emerging technologies) to overcome the aforementioned limits will be discussed.