Monitoring Artificial Surface Expansion in Ecological Redline Zones by Multi-Temporal VHR Images

Multi-temporal remote sensing dataset allows for cost-and time-efficient monitoring of land-cover vital to the conservation of ecosystems and biodiversity. The Very High Resolution (VHR) images provide the needed spatial resolution which is important for government management and decision-making. In this paper, we propose a workflow for detecting artificial surface expansion in ecological redline zones based on object-based image analysis and transfer matrix. The new increased artificial surface regions are further obtained by rule optimization in the preliminary results. Finally, 854 new artificial surface patches with a total area of more than 1.93 square kilometers were detected. The proposed approach quantifies the effects of human activities without high cost and time-consuming process, which is of great significance for the protection and management of ecological redline zones.