SARSCAPE

The SarScape project aimed at developing and demonstrating, at a regional scale, an integrated system for the production of landscape structure maps based on ERS scene texture segmentation and quantification and their incorporation in atmospheric transport and pollutant deposition models.

The developers of atmospheric transport and deposition models are considered as the maim users of the SARSCAPE information. These models are used by governmental agencies, institutions and industry (in engineering, consulting, site planning of e.g. wind turbines) in projects and services with respect to environmental impact assessment and monitoring.

Apart from the incorporation of the landscape structure maps in atmospheric models, the SARSCAPE products also touch numerous potential application fields, such as natural habitat fragmentation mapping, urban and residentail area mapping, forest inventory... As such the products carry a distinct and generic value for which the potential business prospects need to be assessed.

The SarScape products are twofold :

• the implementation of an innovative texture extraction procedure
• the application of SAR-imagery to derive impact-of-landscape on windfield - as alternative to detailled landcover maps