Airbus Logo

Defence and Space

Airbus Logo

Defence and Space

Airbus Logo

Defence and Space

Precision mapping of urban vegetation

Precision mapping of urban vegetation using Pléiades Neo imagery

In 2022, Airbus launched the Pléiades Neo Challenge, a call for projects offering free access to Pléiades Neo imagery.
The French public agency the CEREMA, which stands for Centre for Studies and Expertise on Risks, the Environment, Mobility and Urban Planning, was selected to test and implement Pléiades Neo imagery as part of the Green Urban Sat project. The aim of the project is to map and evaluate urban vegetation in order to help municipalities make decisions for the future.

The study area covers the municipality of Nancy, France
Challenge

Cities are increasingly suffering from urban heat islands, pollution, runoff and other issues. Urban vegetation offers several Ecosystem Services (ES) to cope with many of these challenges, including local climate regulation, improved air quality, water cycle management, socio-cultural benefits and ecological continuity. 

To manage and improve urban vegetation, municipalities face a critical challenge: precisely mapping urban vegetation and its characteristics. 

As part of the Green Urban Sat project, funded by the Space Climate Observatory (CNES), the CEREMA has used Pléiades Neo imagery to evaluate its potential for mapping urban vegetation, specifically for precisely detecting vertical and horizontal strata.

The city of Nancy, France, has been used as a testing ground for this method. 

Classification applied on Pléiades Neo 6-bands imagery
Our Solution

The CEREMA used two different type of satellites imagery for the analysis: Pléiades and Pléiades Neo.

• Pléiades imagery: includes multi-temporal and multi-angular acquisitions to discriminate vegetation across seasons, discriminate vertical strata and discriminate horizontal shapes

• Pléiades Neo tri-stereoscopic imagery: to detect vegetation with NDVI and supervised classification, using the advantages of the specific Red Edge-band.

The satellite imagery was used to help identify different areas: built up, road, bare soil, water and vegetation.

Extract from GreenCity platform (TerraNIS) with Nancy results

Benefits

This analysis has confirmed the strong potential of the new Pléiades Neo images for satellite-based urban space analysis, particularly for vegetation in the city, thanks to their very high spatial resolution and their 6 spectral bands.

Pléiades Neo imagery has many advantages for this application:

• Precise identification of plan forms, including the detection of smaller plant structures like shrubs
• The Red Edge band enables the monitoring of the phenological cycle and water stress of plants
• The very high-resolution of Pléiades Neo imagery allows for distinguishing between tree and herbaceous vegetation, with a high level of details on grass and, consequently, an heterogeneous texture.
 

Conclusion of the urban vegetation and biodiversity of Nancy

The CEREMA concluded that the city of Nancy can be rated at 5/10 for its urban vegetation and biodiversity indicator.  
The demonstration over Nancy will be included in the GreenCity platform (TerraNIS). Also, the method will be replicated at a national and global scale.

CEREMA logo
Organisation involved
Related pages
Pléiades Neo 30cm - Very High Resolution  satellite image

Pléiades Neo

Satellite image - Land Administration services - Airbus Intelliegence

Land Administration & Mapping Market

Search the Airbus Optical Archive images

Airbus Optical Archive

Want to know more?

Our sales team will be happy to provide you more information about this case study and how it can meet your business needs.

satellite-image-map-airbus-product-page.jpeg

See all our case studies

See all
greenland_expedition_banner.jpg
Environmental Assessment and Prediction

Snowkiting Across Greenland

In July 2024, Dr. Heidi Sevestre, glaciologist,  and Matthieu Tordeur, polar explorer, led a kite-ski expedition from the south to the north of Greenland. The goal was to collect scientific data in the most remote parts of the ice cap. 

Pléiades Neo for Agriculture : Cypriot parcel 30cm resolution satellite image
Agriculture
Pléiades Neo

The use of Pléiades Neo in the Cypriot Land Parcel Identification System

The Cyprus Agricultural Payments Organisation (CAPO) requires precise land parcel detection, recognition and identification to create a new Land Parcel Identification System (LPIS). This system is essential for complying with the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) reform, aimed at ensuring accurate and efficient distribution of agricultural subsidies across Europe. 

Monitoring post-fire damages on palm trees
Forestry and Environment
Pléiades Neo

Monitoring post-fire damages on palm trees using Pléiades Neo

In order to count the remaining oil palm trees from their plantations after the wildfire, Tolaram needed to use very-high resolution satellite imagery. The area of interest was fully covered in just one week (around 7000 ha of oil palm plantations captured), thanks to Pléiades Neo’s extensive data acquisition capacity.