The paper discusses the potential of very high resolution (VHR) satellite imagery for post-earthquake damage assessment in comparison with the role of aerial photographs. Post-disaster optical and radar satellite data are assessed for their ability to resolve collapsed buildings, destroyed transportation infrastructure, and specific land cover changes. Optical VHR imagery has shown to be effective in quantifying building stock and for assessing damage at the building level. Highresolution synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery requires further research to identify optimum information extraction procedures for rapid assessment of affected buildings. Based on current technical and operational capabilities increasing efforts should be devoted to the generation of spatial datasets for disaster preparedness.
T he German Satellite Data Archive (D-SDA) at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) has been managing largevolume Earth-observation (EO) data in the context of EOmission payload ground segments (PGSs) for more than two decades. Hardware, data management, processing, user access, long-term preservation, and data exploitation ex-pertise are under one roof and interact closely. Upcoming EO-mission PGSs benefit as much from the comprehensive expertise, close interaction, and integrated infrastructure as do in-house scientific application projects requiring access, processing, and archiving of large-volume EO data. Using a number of examples, we will demonstrate how EO data life cycles benefit from the proximity of data management and application scientists and from the extensive operational experience gathered over time.
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